–developed from 2008-2015; while APNU+AFC added just 14.2 MW in five years, Dr. Singh says
–dismantles ‘misrepresented facts’ on power sector; points to continued efforts by Dr. Ali-led administration to address demand, prepare for the future

SENIOR Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service Dr. Ashni Singh has set the record straight, and said that while the current ‘blackout’ situation is frustrating, the government will not sit by and allow Opposition operatives to “misrepresent” facts on the power sector.

During a live broadcast on Saturday, he underscored that President Dr. Irfaan Ali is tackling the current challenges head-on, although there continues to be a misrepresentation of the facts.
The Senior Minister said: “We have continued to witness the customary misrepresentations, and in many cases, very blatant factual misrepresentations in relation to the sector.”

While pouring cold water on claims that the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) offered a better quality of service under the APNU+AFC, Dr. Singh said this is not “factually accurate”.
Setting the record straight, he related that the APNU+AFC benefitted from the investments that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government made prior to exiting office in 2015.
He said that it was the PPP/C that made “a succession of significant investments in the electricity sector”, and he gave an insight into some of the major ones that bolstered the sector.

For instance, Dr. Singh said that in 2009, the Kingston power plant, under the PPP/C, received an installation of three 6.9 megawatts (MW) of brand new Wartsila engines, and in 2011, the government brought Online an additional two 7.8 MW of generating capability at Kingston, which gave them an additional 15.6 MW of generating capacity.

In addition, they brought 24/7 electricity for the first time in 2014 to Leguan and Wakenaam.
He also noted that the PPP/C left GPL with 76.9 MW of new, firm power-generating capability, and these investments by the PPP/C were as a result of their foreseeing that there was going to be a growth in demand.

“I want to say very clearly that when the APNU+AFC came into office in 2015, they met a GPL that had 76.9 megawatts or more of a new, firm power capacity, delivered as a result of the People’s Progressive Party installing brand new engines; Wartsila and other engines between the period of 2008 and 2015, on top of all of the investments that we would have made in transmission and distribution, and putting aside, of course, additional interventions that we were doing in renewable energy…” Dr. Singh said.

While highlighting how the demand for electricity has grown, the Senior Minister provided some statistics, and noted that in 2014, GPL had 177,780 customers, and at the end of 2023 it had 227,067 customers.

However, although the PPP/C had laid the foundation for the rapid growth of the economy, according to Dr. Singh, within the five years that the APNU+AFC was in office, they only installed a meager 14.2 MW.

He said if you focus only on the Demerara-Berbice interconnected system, they only installed 8.7 MW, while the PPP/C had installed in excess of 70 MW from 2008 to 2014 in that same interconnected system.

Upon assuming office in 2020, the minister noted, President Ali had pushed for emergency power since he understood that GPL was not capable of generating the electricity needs of the citizens.

He said: “They did not invest in new generating capability; they did not invest and maintain our engines adequately, and so when we returned in office, what we found was a completely dilapidated and even further dilapidating infrastructure at GPL, with a system that was completely incapable of generating electricity to meet the needs of the country.”

Against this backdrop, 9.6 MW of emergency power was installed within this current government’s first four months in office at Canefield, Onverwagt and Sophia, and with the expected 35 MW of power to come on board shortly, this will carry the PPP/C government to having installed 127 MW of power from 2020 to date.

He added that the government is now procuring 33 MW of solar power to be plugged into Berbice and Essequibo, and that that is from the Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) funds.
Coming back to the untruths surrounding the power sector, the Senior Mnister made it clear that this government is not on a mission to assign blame, but it will not sit by and allow the situation to be twisted.

“This government really has no interest in playing the blame game; our focus is on delivering solutions.
“… But if the APNU+AFC is going to go out there and try to misrepresent the facts to rewrite history, I can assure you that we will not sit down and allow this to happen; we will respond and set out the facts,” Dr. Singh said while underscoring that the recent history of the power sector is very clear.

On Friday, President Ali announced that the Government of Guyana has finalised an agreement for the supply of “emergency power” to address the increase in power outages.
The government, through the GPL, finalised a time-charted agreement with UCC Holding for a “power ship” to be deployed to the country within three weeks.

“This arrangement will bring an additional 36 megawatts of power to the national grid to offset generation shortfalls,” Dr. Ali said.
The agreement will see the chartering of a power supply vessel that will be connected to GPL’s Demerara-Berbice Integrated System at Everton in Berbice, providing support to the generation capacity of the power company. The vessel will be in the country for a period of 24 months.