Energy sector is vital to the country’s development

Dear Editor,
In a move towards solving the nagging blackouts, Prime Minister Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips, who is responsible for the energy sector, has vowed to reduce or end the blackouts which have wreaked havoc on the residents throughout the country.
The PM remarked that much of the problems with Guyana Power and Light (GPL) were inherited from the previous Government, which did very little to maintain and upgrade the electric grids to meet the growing demands of the massive development across the country, and he
is adamant that he would leave no stone unturned and that every action would be taken to bring an end to the blackouts.
With his extensive military background and training, and with him once being the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), PM Phillips is not only authentic, but has a reputation for solving problems in the army, and he has brought those thoughtful and insightful skills to his leadership role in the Government.
Action-driven, sincere and genuine, Prime Minister Phillips has reaffirmed the Government’s unwavering commitment to transforming the nation’s power infrastructure, boosting its generation capacity, and improving its service delivery to the citizens of Guyana. With support from President Dr. Irfaan Ali and echoing Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, PM Phillips underscored the fact that extensive work is currently underway on GPL transmission and distribution systems, including the installation of additional generators to enhance the power company’s overall capacity, functionality and efficiency, and hence the reduction of blackouts.
With completion of the gas-to-shore project, Brigadier Phillips told the nation, blackout would be a thing of the past, and the consumers’ electricity bills would be vastly reduced.
According to Brigadier Phillips, the energy sector, particularly GPL, is vital to the nation’s infrastructural development strategies throughout the country. It is the foundation upon which the country’s economic prosperity, social progress, and wellbeing of the people depend. He acknowledged that without the energy sector, and in this case GPL, there would be no substantive development, and progress would be stalled and the poor would suffer.
PM Phillips posited that over the past four years, tremendous improvement has been made to the electrical grid to make it more efficient to stem the blackout woes that have plagued the country for decades. However, to his credit, and unlike others, Prime Minister Phillips was honest to admit that there are major challenges at all levels of the GPL supply system: from fuel allocation to line losses to power delivery to consumers, and not to mention theft of electricity which has existed for decades, all of which he claimed would be addressed with the Government’s plans for improvement in generation, transmission, and distribution systems across the country, even as the corporation expands service to unserved areas.
The Prime Minister stressed that these plans would enable GPL to meet its peak demands, and thus move the country to the apex of its development.
The Prime Minister’s dedication to the citizens of Guyana is boundless and never-ending, and “come hell or high water”, he is committed to end or significantly reduce the power outages in the country, which is an annoyance to the citizens.

Sincerely,
Dr Asquith Rose