— Minister Indar ‘shines light’ on billions in debt left by APNU+AFC

By Navendra Seoraj

THE first day of the 2020 budget debates kicked off on Monday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) and, while it was well ‘lit’ inside, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, argued that local power companies were left in the ‘dark’ with billions of dollars in debt, by the former APNU+AFC administration.

From the onset of the debates, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Raphael Trotman, who started the day, argued that progress was visible, over the past five years, under the APNU+AFC administration, but contrary to his claims, Minister Indar said a rapid assessment of all agencies under his ministry proved otherwise.

“We did a rapid assessment of all agencies to determine what kind of a government we inherited… in the area of energy, GPL right now, when we took office, has $1.9 billion in a bank account and that would have taken them to the end of October,” said Minister Indar.

In the past three years alone, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) “racked up” $8.7 billion in losses, a situation which the minister used to debunk Trotman’s claims of progress over the past five years.

“When we talk about progress, look at GPL,” Minister Indar lamented, adding that the former administration, over the past five years, invested only US$1 million to put “base load” capacity into GPL.

As it is now, the national grid is providing 120 megawatts of electricity, an amount which is equal to the consumer demand of 117-120 megawatts of power. This leaves no room for reserve power.

“This is why we are finding blackouts everywhere, every day… there is zero revolving capacity… every time an engine goes down, people get blackout… there is no revolving capacity!” Minister Indar argued.

Heckling from the opposition side of the bench was not enough to silence the minister, who went on to say that government, in an effort to add reserve power to the grid, has resorted to purchasing power from Independent Power Producers (IPP). The utility company, under the past administration, had sought to improve this system and acquire more power early this year through private producers, but that project never materialised.

POSITIVE RESPONSE
Minister Indar, however, assured that there is movement on this front, as 40 producers have responded to the Expressions of Interest (EoI) issued recently by GPL.

The company, which is said to be at a financial disadvantage because of past decisions, will now have to purchase power from private producers instead of benefitting immediately from five generating sets which were purchased by GPL.
“The previous government had lent GPL US$50 million to buy five generating sets… each weighs 150 tonnes and they are somewhere in Finland… the other part of that contract was $994 million for civil work that would take 10 months to get done,” Indar lamented.
He said the job is only 15 per cent completed, so the money spent there will not benefit Guyana until April 2021. Meanwhile, the power company has been left at a financial disadvantage because US$2.3 million of the US$50 million was taken from its coffers.

COMPANY OWED

In adding “fuel to the fire,” Minister Indar said the former APNU+AFC administration owes GPL $13.1 billion, an expense which was inherited by the new government. This debt, according to the minister, is four per cent of government’s $329.5 billion budget for 2020.

Government, he said, will also have to provide much-needed bailout to the subsidiaries of the Hinterland Electrification Company Inc. (HECI).

The HECI is a subsidiary of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd. (NICIL), and is a “holding” of all satellite electricity companies owned by NICIL. The satellite companies are the Linden Electricity Company Inc. (LECI), Kwakwani Utilities Inc. (KUI), Lethem Power Company Inc. (LMPC), Port Kaituma Power & Light Inc. (PKPL), Mahdia Power & Light Inc. (MPL), Matthew’s Ridge Power & Light Inc. (MRPL) and the Mabaruma Power and Light.
Loud “sighs” were heard around the room, after the minister said the total debt “racked up” by those companies was $981 million.
“On Friday, I made a supplication to Cabinet to provide $89 million to Kwakwani (KUI)… there are 1,089 consumers of electricity there… the company did not have money to pay workers, they did not have fuel to run generators,” said Minister Indar in his effort to paint a vivid picture of what was happening at those companies.
This, he argued, was due mainly to the former government’s neglect of the HECI, a company which provides electricity to 15 per cent of the local population from the hinterland.

Like the case at KUI, he said the company in Linden, a known stronghold for the coalition, was underfunded by the past administration. And, over at Matthew’s Ridge, there was blackout for eight weeks because the generator there was not serviced in time and was missing a single part. This problem has since been rectified by the new administration.
The minister again used these examples as premise to debunk Trotman’s claim of progress, noting: “When we talk about progress, do you categorise that as progress? No!”