Georgetown : The $10.2B allocation under the Office of the Prime Minister targeting the expansion of the electrification programme was slashed to $5 B by the parliamentary opposition.
Despite the warnings by Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh that the cut of this subsidy may force tariff increases, the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) went ahead with the cut.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and the Finance Minister’s appeals did not convince the opposition nor answer questions proposed.
Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman, asked the Prime Minister to indicate what would be the possible effects of the cut and Mr Hinds replied that it could possibly see the company purchasing less needed equipment and fuel. He explained that the fluctuating international price for fuel to keep the generation output of electricity stable was also catered for under the funding. PM Hinds pointed to GPL’s ongoing infrastructural development projects which he noted would be greatly hampered by the cuts.
Meanwhile, Head of GPL Bharat Dindyal had on Wednesday publicly pointed out that the institution currently has several major projects being executed simultaneously under a loan agreement between the Government of Guyana and China Exim Bank for the construction of, among other facilities, seven new substations which are expected to be completed by the end of 2013.
Three of these sub stations have been completed on the West Coast Demerara and others, on the East Coast Demerara, are currently under construction along with almost 100 kilometers of 69 KV transmission lines.
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