THE extension of the electrical network systems in four Indigenous communities will enhance the capacity of the grid to serve a larger segment of the population residing in those communities.

St Cuthbert’s Mission, in Region Four, Moraikobai in Region Five, and Orealla and Siparuta in Region Six, are the communities that are expected to benefit from the intervention. As part of the Unserved Areas Electrification Programme (UAEP), which began in 2004, the four communities received electricity systems, using primarily diesel generation, with mini-grids, overhead transmission and distribution systems.

The communities have expanded since then, hence the effort to extend the grid in each, to supply more households, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Hinterland Electrification Corporation Inc. (HECI), Horace Williams explained in a recent interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA.)

“It is actually the network in these communities that we are extending. Putting in more poles, extending the lines to other areas within the communities, where new houses have developed,” he said. “It is an expansion of the centre, so to speak,” he explained. “There are houses developed, just outside of the central area… we think it is feasible to extend the grid to supply these new households. But the people who are still on the peripheral, would have to continue to use solar system, until such time that we find it economical to expand the grid to these households as well,” he said.

Over $100M is expected to be expended on the various projects, which also cater for a similar expansion exercise in Lethem, Region Nine to supply the Culvert City new housing scheme with electricity.

“We have to extend the grid at Lethem to capture that area,” Williams said. He explained that, “It is a new housing scheme, I do not know how many house lots, but they are empty at the moment, and people are waiting for electricity to be able to move into the areas, so that is why we are taking that initiative, in terms of providing electricity in the areas,” he explained. A total of 150 households are expected to benefit from these interventions.

(GINA)