…vessels laying submarine cable in Demerara River
THE Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL)is cautioning mariners to  look out for the barge ‘ANSAR’, with attending tug ‘CBJ’, currently laying a submarine cable linking the Kingston Power Plant to the West Coast Demerara sub-station at Vreed-en-Hoop. A release from the power company said that the barge and tug, mobilised by GPL Infrastructure Development Project, will be working between the following coordinates:

Latitude                                        Longitude
06° 49’ 24” N                                085° 09’ 58” W
06° 48’ 46” N                                085° 10’ 42” W

The exercise began last Tuesday, and is expected to run for five weeks, the release said. The power company anticipates challenges during the laying of the cable, as the channel is an active one, with vessels traversing the river back and forth.
Moreover, the barge ‘ANSAR’ and tug ‘C.B.J’ will be operating on a twenty-four-hour schedule, and will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre. Accordingly, all mariners are requested to stay clear of these vessels, and to navigate with caution in the vicinity.
During daylight hours, the vessel will display a vertical signal — blackball, diamond, blackball, while during the hours of darkness, the signal displayed would be vertical lights red, white, red, the power company explained.
Mariners are advised that communication can be made on VHF CH.16 via the Georgetown Lighthouse.
GPL’s Chief Executive Officer, Bharat Dindyal, told reporters last  week that the sinking of the submarine cable is part of the Chinese US$42M Infrastructure Development Project which will see a dramatic improvement in the quality and reliability of electricity to the people of West Demerara. Moreover, with the brand new 36-megawatt plant at Kingston being coupled with other capacity in Demerara, GPL will deliver all the power that West Demerara residents require.
Dindyal outlined that a special corps of technicians was brought to the country to lay the cable, an exercise which costs in excess of US$5M. GPL said that the cable will be sunk to at least 3.5 meters below the river bed, and technicians are looking to go as deep as 7 meters, to ensure the cable is protected from ships anchoring in the vicinity of the cable.

The joint Chinese-GPL technical team working at the Kingston end of the transmission cable. (Photos by Cullen Bess-Nelson)

Meanwhile, plans are afoot for the Kingston Substation to be expanded to provide the new connection to West Demerara, with a new transformer being added to the equipment there.

When completed, the $42M Infrastructure Development Project at Kingston will have the capacity to deliver over 150 megawatts to West Demerara.