Chairman of Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Devanand Ramdatt and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) are at loggerheads over unscheduled power outages in the region.
Ramdatt claimed the power company had made a commitment to inform residents of the region about scheduled power outages, but this has not been honoured. However, GPL has refuted his claim, saying residents of the region are being informed.
Region Two Chairman Devanand Ramdatt
During an interview with Guyana Times, Public Relations Officer of the utility company, Shevion Sears, said the entity did commit to informing residents in Region Two of the scheduled power outages and this has been honoured.
Sears’ denial came following a statement from Ramdatt, who complained bitterly of the impact of the unscheduled power outages over the past few months.
He said that GPL’s commitment to inform residents, via text message and local media (RCA TV), before the power failures, was not being fulfilled.
Sears, however, refuted the claims of the Regional Chairman and said the power company has been informing residents of the power failures. She told this newspaper that she would provide more details, but was unreachable when this publication called for the relevant information.
Ramdatt on Wednesday again vented his frustration and disappointment over the issue which he says has been ongoing for some time now.
He informed that during a special meeting the Board of officials from the region had with the utility’s executives back in June 2017, GPL gave their word to send out the advisories of power outages; however, it was just a mere few months before the power company started “slacking off”.
In a much frustrated tone, the Regional Chairman stated that the past month have been the most difficult for residents in Region Two.
Ramdatt said he can provide all the dates that GPL has sent advisories and alluded to the fact that as recent as Tuesday morning, several communities were without power, and without notice.
The Regional Chairman on Monday explained that an email from Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, dated July 9, 2017, stated, ‘“I will ask GPL to provide advance notice on any load-shedding activities; on the long-term, a new set for Anna Regina has been procured already, it is expected to be on site by October; however, we have to complete ground works and other infrastructure issues before we can connect it and have it in full service; it is anticipated all to be completed by November.”
“We are now in April 2018 and the region is still suffering from constant blackouts which is causing disruption to all GTT landline phones, GWI water flow and Internet service, just to name a few,” the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) said in a statement on Monday.
As such, the RDC’s statement added that residents, especially the business community, are calling on the Government and GPL to speed up the process at the Anna Regina Power Plant and bring some relief to the region.
Only last week, Deputy Mayor of the town of Anna Regina, Darshan Persaud expressed his outrage at the service being offered by the power company.
In an interview, Persaud said residents in the township were complaining about the long periods of power outages, which have contributed to the loss of thousands of dollars in ice cream, chicken, meat, and other frozen foods.
