– to be commissioned in a few days’ time

“I am proud, that in my lifetime, we can see lights in all their glory and that new development has finally reached your doorsteps.”This heartfelt sentiment was expressed by Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), Mr. Bharat Dindyal, at a public meeting held last Friday at the Fairfield Community Centre, East Coast, Demerara.

The meeting was reportedly held to sensitise residents on the improvements that will come on stream when the just completed new GPL Substation at Columbia/Mahaicony is commissioned within a few days.
In recalling his days as a young engineer at GEC in 1987 when he was painfully aware that the West Coast, Berbice area was one plagued with chronic low-voltage, the CEO traced the history of expansion projects that started in 1987 and recognised that the proposed transmission line between Onverwagt and Sophia in that plan, never happened. Now 30 years later, after construction started in 2012, the CEO told the residents that GPL is finally commissioning a facility in their community that will transform the quality and reliability of power as West Berbice can now get power from East Berbice and Georgetown.
“Whenever the hydro power comes on line, the substation will be ready and equipped to handle it,” the company said in a statement.
Mr. Dindyal told the gathering that the Substation represents a huge investment of over Gy$600 million, funded from the loan of US$39 million provided by the China Import/Export Bank and it has the capacity to deliver power for at least the next 20 years.

The residents heard that the state-of-the-art Substation has a very sophisticated computerised control system, that does not require anyone to be on the premises, but will be controlled from Sophia. The Sophia Control Centre, he said, could see and regulate the power supply for every village from Georgetown to Columbia.
He alerted residents that they must not believe that they’re experiencing high voltage when they see how bright the lights are and they must be aware that their electricity bills are likely to increase as consumption will go up when their appliances start to function properly. Rice Millers who, in the past complained about low voltage, will now have their factories working at full power.
The session ended with the CEO and his team fielding questions from the floor and the invitation for residents ‘to work with GPL to ensure that this investment bears fruit.’