— even as gov’t to intensify ‘come back home’ campaign for Guyanese in the diaspora

MINISTER of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson said that instability of electricity supply would be a thing of the past with the entry of oil and gas into Guyana’s economy. This, he disclosed in an interview on the Voice of Guyana Friday, while sharing some of the ongoing developmental works of the Ministry of Infrastructure, and some of the future plans.
Citing a particular example, Patterson referred to the Guyana Power and Light, and the many complaints that people air about inconsistent power supply.

He pointed out that while persons complain about poor services, he can attest to the fact that the workers have been working assiduously to ensure that quality work is done in 14 agencies catered for under his ministry.

To this end, the minister noted that the difficulty sat with the availability of fuel and the ability of the generators to pump electricity throughout the country. However, he highlighted that within the next 12 months, instability of the generators would be a thing of the past.

“We have the backbone now. We have oil and gas and that’s one of the fuels that power generators – the cheapest and cleanest of the non-renewable sources. We have the gas, so what we’re doing now is building out the architecture where it comes in by 2021. In one go, we’ll have more than enough power for the county, and cheaper,” he said.

Patterson also said that this will provide for boosting in several other aspects of the economy. Because Guyana will be producing its own fuel for GPL, there will be no importing cost.

“Take out cost for importing fuel for GPL, cars, vehicles and those things, the money saved is now another earner; another amount of money saved. Now you can put that back into the economy, maybe to wages, salaries, roads, and the education sector. That’s a big junk of money; we’re talking hundreds of millions of US dollars spent on importing fuel. All that will be saved,” he posited.

Additionally, the inflow of fuel will aid in Guyana being transformed into a completely sustainable country.

This will be done by investing in renewable energy that can fuel solar farms, minister noted.

“And by 2040, we expect to be 100 per cent sustainable. Every single power in the country will be renewable or by our own source,” he pointed out.
In the meanwhile, Patterson said that through funds from Norway and other countries that would have made investments, provisions are being made to invest in building the reserve energy in Guyana that will carry consistent power through to 2021 when the change is expected to come.

Additionally, the minister emphasised that the government has to intensify the ‘come back home’ campaign because more human resources will definitely be needed for what is expected. The government of Guyana will soon be emphasising a ‘come back home’ campaign for Guyanese in the diaspora, as Guyana is soon to be developed beyond its available human resources.

It is reported that we have about two million Guyanese in the diaspora. And they are highly trained. We’ve had interactions with those in US and Canada, they have become accustomed to certain standards, like proper healthcare, and we have been working on improving our standards in these various sectors. We have invested tremendously in the health sector, and the services are being decentralised,” he explained.

Adding that “What’s going to happen for Guyana, it’s for Guyanese primarily.” Hence the reason for the campaign.