Without a healthy, sustainable energy, there can be no production, factories, business, fisheries, ports, and transportation routes carry the region‘s commerce. For the past weeks, Essequibians have been feeling the heat with frequent blackouts, some lasting for 12 hours or more. When the Wartsila goes down, our lights and business go out.
Without a healthy, sustainable energy, there can be no production, factories, business, fisheries, ports, and transportation routes carry the region‘s commerce. For the past weeks, Essequibians have been feeling the heat with frequent blackouts, some lasting for 12 hours or more. When the Wartsila goes down, our lights and business go out. When the Anna Regina power plant shut down, we feel it everywhere. This Wartsila plant was installed here on the Essequibo Coast in 1993 by the late Cheddi Jagan, without a back-up standby generation sets in the event of blackouts. I was at the commissioning of the plant and I taught that our power outrages will be over, but it has come back to haunt Essequibians, no fault of the new government.
No one can cast blame on the coalition which is 3 months old, after all they inherited a broken and rundown power plant, after the commissioning of these 2 Wartsila engines, no one in the previous administration saw it fit to maintain it after being in office for the past 23 years. Blackouts is nothing new to we Essequibians, it all started when PNC was in office for the past 28 years and it continues with PPP until they demit office. The new government will certainly have to correct this problem, in 2011 general and regional elections, PPP lost a seat in this region mainly due to being an uncaring government. They took us for a ride, then came the backlash, losing a seat by 2 votes.
Then came the next regional and general elections on May,11,2015,PPP was cock sure of gaining back that one seat, but they were wrong, it got a sound trashing by 5,300 more votes than the 2011 elections. PPP has never lost this region in any free and fair election since the formation of the party, Indians were solid behind Jagan PPP and his party always got the majority of votes here. He did everything right for the people in this region and they love him, no wonder after winning the 1992 elections he brought two new Wartsila power plants here to satisfy the Essequibians with his campaigned promised, since he died everything went overboard by his uncaring new leaders.
The two electricity generation plants continue to malfunction and operate inefficiently because the past administration failed to do maintenance and buy new parts to refurbish it. Both engines for the past decades have been producing electricity below capacity. We are faced with the same reality that there are natural and opposition forces that work against business while damaging our electrical appliances and spoiling our meat, fish and other perishable. The new government in order to encourage production and investments in this region will need to introduce two new Wartsila engines and two new standby generating sets in case they broke down at the same time. Due to neglect by the past government maladministration, the tide has turned against Essequibians basic infrastructure to promote industries investments and business was totally and deliberately neglected or destroyed.
As a result, not only was the Wartsila was wrecked; the entire economy virtually collapsed .At present Essequibians can hardly escape the vagaries of the constant blackouts. There is therefore need for intelligent and skillful planning to be implemented to facilitate the transition and a restructuring of GPL. Money which was diverted from the PetroCaribe rice and paddy fund to buy standby generating sets for our region ended up in GPL officials bank accounts, if this money were there in that account today the new government could have buy two new Wartsila power plants for Essequibo and end our distress and blackouts woes.
Yours faithfully
Mohamed Khan
