9-hour power outage for Georgetown, EBD

The Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) will be conducting maintenance works for one week. As such, several areas in Georgetown and villages on the East Bank of Demerara will be affected with as long as nine hours of blackout.
This is according to the power company, which is urging the general public to be patient, as it seeks to upgrade the power lines in these areas.
On Sunday, August 12, Alberttown, Werk-en-Rust, Kingston and Cummingsburg, Georgetown will be without electricity for a period of two hours beginning from 08:00h.
Newtown, Eping Avenue, Bel Air Park and Vlissengen Road between Lamaha and the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) will be affected for nine hours, from 08:00h as well.
On Tuesday, August 14, Subryanville, Georgetown will also experience nine hours of blackout from 08:00h. On that same date, Second Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme on the East Bank of Demerara will be without power from 09:00h to 17:00h.
Ruimzigt, West Coast Demerara will experience blackout from 08:00h to 16:00h, on August 15. B Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown will also be without power during the same period the following day.
On August 19, eight streets in Georgetown will be without power from 08:00h to 17:00h. These streets are Avenue of the Republic, Hadfield Street, Stabroek, Brickdam, Water Street, High Street, Quamina Street west of Waterloo and Carmichael Street south of Quamina.
GPL Assistant Public Relations Officer (PRO) Natalie Yearwood-Pindar had said “localised faults” were why many areas across the country have been experiencing power outages.
Localised faults are basically issues which affect a small group of persons within a community, the Assistant PRO explained.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Albert Gordon recently announced that US$110 million was needed to address the issue of blackouts. He explained that the existing infrastructure in the country was the main reason for the constant power outages.
The Amaila Falls Hydropower Project could have been almost operational by now, and consumers could have been close to seeing an end to expensive and unreliable electricity. Guyana would, moreover, have been entering into the ranks of the top 10 users of clean energy worldwide.
The Project, which would have represented the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country’s history, had the potential to reintegrate Guyana with the global capital markets for the first time in over 40 years.
Blasting the Government for the frequent episodes of power outages across Guyana was Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, who noted during one of his recent press conferences that many Guyanese were forced to endure the constant power outages daily, despite the Government saving more money from fuel than ever before.
According to the Opposition Leader, there is a manifest lack of short- and long-term solutions to address GPL’s inefficiency.
“So many Guyanese face this on a daily basis — the large number of blackouts, sometimes for extended periods — and (they are failing) to address this. (There is) no relief from the Government in the short term, and no (effective) plan for addressing this in the medium to long term. So, it can only get worse,” Jagdeo predicted.