THE MATTHEWS RIDGE community will soon benefit from electricity supply as government intends to plough some $43M into the establishment of an electricity grid for Matthews Ridge, Region One (Barima/Waini) and preparatory work for this project is well under way.
The establishment of the grid and distribution network at Matthews Ridge follows a promise made to residents by President Bharrat Jagdeo when he visited the area in March last.
Head of the Hinterland Electrification Programme (HEP) Mr. Horace Williams disclosed this week that the bill of quantities and a design for the network have been completed.
Contractors for the installation of poles and other elements of the network are to be identified within a week.
He said that the Matthews Ridge project  will provide 125 KW of electricity and should be completed and be ready to provide electricity  within four months from the start of work by the contractors.
He urged residents to begin wiring their homes to the required standards so that they can access electricity from the grid immediately on its completion.
The HEP, based in the Office of the Prime Minister, is the successor programme of the Unserved Areas Electricity Programme (UAEP) which was funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Government of Guyana in two phases starting from December 2005 and from which thousands in rural and hinterland areas have received electricity.
The UAEP project was officially closed earlier this year.
Mr. Williams disclosed that the people of Matthews Ridge had benefitted from a limited distribution network in the 1950s and the 1960s but not much of a public electricity system since then.
The new network will make use of a generator already supplied by government.