Improved performances expected from GuySuCo, GPL – VP

…says massive investments being made, results needed

With significant upgrades come greater expectations and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has made it clear that the Government will be expecting greater performances from agencies such as the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
During his press conference on Friday, the Vice President explained that in the case of GuySuCo, where the Government has invested billions of dollars, he noted that improvements are expected at the entity.
Between 2020 and 2024, the Government invested a whopping $45 billion in the sugar industry, to revitalise the sector and make it a vital component of the country’s developmental plans.
The focus has been on modernising operations, including the mechanisation of estates, with almost 40 per cent of the estates now automated.

Additionally, efforts have been made to recapitalise the industry by replacing broken infrastructure and systems to improve efficiency. However, despite these efforts, the sugar industry has struggled to meet the production target of 63,276 tonnes of commodity this year.
When it comes to GPL, the Government has brought in two power ships that have resulted in some 67 Megawatts (MW) of reserve power being installed in the Demerara Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS). This was done with the aim of contributing to reliable power.
“They were complaining all along, that they were very tight on generating capacity. So now that they have that, I anticipate that the President will be looking for performance. And the performance, for us, is how much they keep the power on. Its not a big, fancy metric. We want to make sure that people have power in their homes,” Jagdeo said.

“And they don’t have frequent black outs that are so irritating and debilitating to people. Now that they have the generating capacity, it would be easier to isolate what is management, from what was scarcity of generating capacity.”
Meanwhile, in the case of GPL, the Government is working on implementing massive upgrades to the grid. He even noted the necessity of the Government implementing a smart grid, as well as the US$159 million Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) contract signed with Kalpataru Projects International Limited (KPIL) that includes massive upgrades to the electrical grid.
“The problem is that we don’t have redundancy. You have one line taking the power to Berbice. So, if something goes wrong with that line, it takes down some areas. If you have a circuit, then you can take power both ways. So that’s what we’re building in the future. And right now, we’ve tendered for a 230 kilovolt-amps (KVA) line to run from Georgetown, all the way to Crabwood creek.”
“Because with us generating 500, 600 MW here, we need to move that. And the 69 KVA line can’t move that amount of power all the way to Berbice. We’re doing the same now to take power to Linden. A 230 KVA line would go into that area. So that’s part of the grid improvement system,” Jagdeo added. (G3)