PPP/C targeting cooking gas at $1000 per bottle with GtE – Pres Ali

…details “deliberate, clear” strategy to tackle poverty, cost of living in next 5 years

Guyanese can expect to see a significant drop in the price of cooking gas with the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) working on bringing down the cost as low as $1000 per cylinder. This is among the menu of measures outlined by President Dr Irfaan Ali in a Facebook live on Sunday afternoon. He said the PPP/C has a clear strategy aimed at eliminating poverty and tackling the high cost of living for all Guyanese over the next five years. Ali is returning on the PPP/C’s ticket for the upcoming September 1 General and Region Elections, seeking a re-election into office. He explained on Sunday that citizens will see massive benefits from his administration’s model Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project, which is slated to be operationalised mid-next year. “With the gas project coming on-stream, cooking gas is going to come down substantially. We are targeting a cylinder of cooking gas at $1,000… Now, that’s another essential item that will reduce poverty, that will save for the household,” he posited.

Currently, the retail price for a 20 lb cylinder of cooking gas ranges between $4,500 and $5,600. Located at Wales on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD), the highly-anticipated (GtE) initiative will see the construction of a 300-megawatt (MW) power plant and a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility – both utilising the rich natural gas that will be piped onshore from the ExxonMobil-operated Liza Field in the offshore Stabroek Block. The PPP/C Government anticipates that the gas production will initially reach 50 million cubic feet per day, delivering at least 5,000 barrels of NGLs per day. The liquids will then be separated via the gas processing plant, for sale as cooking gas locally as well as to supply dry gas to the power plant.
A second phase of the project would see another 75 million cubic feet of gas per day being produced for a second power plant and export use.

Lowered electricity prices
In addition to the significantly lowered cooking gas prices, the PPP/C Administration has also been touting a 50 per cent reduction in electricity costs for all category of consumers when the GtE Project comes on-stream next year, delivering clean and reliable power. “We have already said that we’ll reduce the cost of electricity by 50 per cent… and remember, addressing poverty is also how we address essential services. And electricity, reducing that by half is essential service.”
“So, when you have not only accessibility and reliability, but the cost of energy coming down by half, that directly addresses poverty because this is an essential service,” Ali explained during Sunday’s live.
Already, the current PPP/C Government has removed the value-added tax (VAT) on water and electricity that was imposed by the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Administration and is also providing subsidies to the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) to offset the global increase in fuel prices thus avoiding a hike in electricity bills for local consumers. According to President Ali, Guyanese can expect more similar intervention from the next PPP/C Administration to ease the burden and enhance their standard of living. Key to this, he pointed out, is creating safety nets within societies to enhance access to essential services like health, education, water, infrastructure and then build out specific measures to address different forms of vulnerabilities and create opportunities for the poor.

Addressing poverty, cost of living
“We have crafted some very specific issues in addressing poverty, in addressing cost of living – all aimed at ensuring all of our country grow in this period of economic expansion… and we have to do it in a way in which the policies and programmes do not only address the short-term challenges, but the policies and systems that we build would address holistically, the long-term challenges and create economic growth and allow a social safety net to be built around opportunities for the poor,” he stated.
To this end, the President noted that the PPP/C has defined a clear strategy to create wealth, expand the economy, create safety nets and access to essential services, including the expansion of social programmes, especially those targeting vulnerable groups, children, women, pensioners and young people.
He said this systemic approach will build on existing policies that have already made tangible impacts, and will be strengthened by new, targeted initiatives designed to improve the lives of all Guyanese. Ali added there will also be additional initiatives to support a more comprehensive housing programme, an unparalleled healthcare system, improved access to quality education and the expansion of agricultural initiatives to strengthen food security and empower rural communities. The President was clear that taxes will be further reduced, salaries increased, cash grants bolstered and overall development skyrocketing.
He posited during Sunday’s live that, “…this very deliberate and clear strategy [will] support specific social welfare programme, an enhancement programme that…must not add any burden… So, it’s education, it’s health, it’s water, it’s electricity, it’s cooking gas. It is community wealth. It is home ownership. It is job creation, expanding the part time job programme. It is expanding the income source for household. It is increasing disposable income in the pockets of families. It is support to our pensioners… That is how we are improving quality of life. That is how we are reducing costs.”