RESIDENTS of the Region 1 (Barima/Waini) community of Santa Rosa (Barima/Waini) will soon benefit from a $35M upgrade of the electricity grid serving that community.

The project is being done by contractors working under supervision of the Hinterland Electrification Unit (HEU) of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the HEU, Mr. Horace Williams, disclosed that the work includes installation of additional transformers, poles, cables and other elements to the existing system, so that more people can benefit from it.

“The community is growing and the upgrade is part of an ongoing effort to improve their access to electricity without voltage drops or disruptions,” Williams said.
The project at Santa Rosa, he said, started a few weeks ago, and is currently about 45% completed.
Williams is optimistic that the project would be completed by October, so that many more residents of that hinterland community in the Moruca District can access electricity from the upgraded grid before the start of the Christmas season.

Williams also disclosed that the network at Matthews Ridge, which falls under the same Hinterland Electricity Programme in the same region, is completed, and the contractors will shortly boot up the system. He urged residents in that community to ensure that the wiring in their homes is up to the required standard, so that they can access electricity from the public grid as soon as this is made operational.

He said that at least 50% of the two hundred households in that community need to be ready for safe connection to the grid before the system can be activated.

“It would be uneconomical to start up the system with less than this percentage of customers,” he said of hinterland electricity at Matthews Ridge and hinterland electricity in general.
(Clifford Stanley)