…98 per cent of population now benefit from potable water
THE Government of Guyana has invested in excess of $15B in the water sector over the last 12 years, which has contributed to the provision of safe, potable water to 98 percent of the population.
Chief Executive Officer (ag) of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Nigel Niles, made this disclosure last week, while highlighting the success of GWI’s programmes countrywide.
According to him, the improvements witnessed in the sector and the amount of lives changed are as a direct result of the interventions made by President Bharrat Jagdeo and the Government of Guyana.
“I want to first congratulate President Bharrat Jagdeo for his stellar leadership exhibited during his terms in office… his leadership in the water sector has been very dynamic over the last 12 years. We have been seeing the building of treatment facilities all across Guyana; this has resulted in over 80,000 persons gaining access to safe, treated water and improving GWI’s coverage,” he highlighted.
Niles explained that there are several areas in the sector where the improvements are evident, among these being the improvement in hinterland water supply, pensioner subsidies and the general upgrading of access to water across all the regions in Guyana.
Alluding to some of these instances, he said, “With regard to the hinterland, we are also grateful for the government’s intervention, and we have now drilled approximately 50 new wells in the hinterland, and given access to over 55,000 persons.”
In addition, the Government of Guyana has also interceded on the behalf of pensioners, by subsidising the cost of water to this group, which, according to Niles, has gone from a total of 20,000 in 2005, to nearly 50,000 persons.

Close to $3.6 B has been invested in Region 4 (Demerara /Mahaica) over the past five years, of which in excess of $2.6B has been invested in Georgetown and nearly $1B on the East Coast and East Bank.
Over the years, the Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, has emphasised that all of the investments are geared towards improving the quality of water produced for the population, in keeping with Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) mandate.
Several of the projects implemented to facilitate this include, the construction of the Central Ruimveldt Water Treatment Plant, rehabilitation of the sewer system in Georgetown, the rehabilitation of the sewer receiving facility in Tucville, the rehabilitation of transmission and distribution systems in the different zones in Georgetown, extension of mains in Agricola, and the rehabilitation of the Shelterbelt water treatment plant.
Additionally, nearly $1B has been injected in Region 5 (Mahaica /Berbice) over the same period, for projects which include the construction of the $400M state-of-the-art water treatment plant in Cotton Tree Village, the installation of the $17M transmission main at Bath, Block D, the drilling of a new well in De Hoop, at a cost of $60M, the Shieldstown distribution upgrade for the sum of $140M, and service connection upgrades at No. 9 Bath Village at a cost of $12M.
GWI has also commissioned seven new water treatment plants at a cost in excess of $5B, which has contributed to the improvement in service and water quality to in excess of 150,000 persons.
While acknowledging that these are just investment in two of the ten regions, the CEO once again expressed gratitude to the Head of State, and affirmed the utility company’s commitment to continuing to expand services to the population.