–already identified site for natural-gas facility, minister tells House

TWO sites have been identified, but only one will be selected for the construction of a natural-gas facility during the first quarter of 2018.

This is according to Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, who told parliamentarians during the 2018 National Budget debate on Thursday night that one of the sites that have been identified is here in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), while the other is in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

With regard to projects to diversify the energy mix and strengthen the power-generation sector, Minister Patterson said that the government spent 2017 engaging in discussions on the commercial use of natural gas from offshore resources as a transitional fuel for the economy.

Such a proposal, he said, would involve the landing of a pipeline onshore to pipe in gas; the construction of a new power-generating facility; and the design and mapping of an industrial park in close proximity to the facility.
“The government envisaged this proposed initiative as a means to supplement the use of renewable energy, and strengthen security of supply,” Minister Patterson said, adding that the government is currently in discussion with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank on studies for accessing the use of this form of energy here.

Patterson said the quanity of the natural gas available is between 300 to 500 cubic feet per day, which is more than enough to power a 200-megawatt generator as well as a LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) plant, which can provide more than four times the country’s annual requirement.

The cost of implementing such a project, he noted, is “far less in total” than that of the Amaila Falls project, and will deliver power to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and at lower cost.

As regards additional plans for the energy sector in 2018, Minister Patterson said that Phase 2 of the distribution and infrastructural development programme will see four new electricity sub-stations being erected at Wales, on the West Bank; Williamsburg, in East Berbice; Kuru Kuru, on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway; and Hydronie, on the East Bank of Essequibo, as well as expansion of the existing structures.

A second transmission line will be erected between Kingston and Sophia here in the city, in the hope of addressing the frequent blackouts, he said.

Under the road improvement and rehabilitation programme funded by the IDB, the minister said that in maintaining commitment to safety, the project provides the first set of pedestrian overpasses being built in Guyana. He said the projects are 85% completed, and the final works are expected to be done by April 2018. He said those final works will see two lifts each being installed at the structures which are being erected on the East Bank of Demerara.

Minister Patterson noted that the Sheriff Street-Mandela Avenue expansion project is coming on stream; that after delays stretching back to 2013, construction work will commence in the first quarter of 2018 and last some 24 months. He said the 2018 budget has provisions of $2B for the project.

Meanwhile, works to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project will continue in the coming year, and that with the $5B that has been allocated to the project for 2018, the new arrival section is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter.

The departure section will be completed shortly after. As regards expansion of the runway, he said that for safety reasons, the contractor was asked to re-examine the foundation of the south-western section of it, since several slippages were experienced there. The project is 77% completed, Minister Patterson told parliamentarians.