Dear Editor,
Please allow me to respond to the Prime Minister’s letter in SN of February 11 (Historical Lethem electricity prices…’).
Before I delve into the response, Editor, please permit me to inform your readership and the Prime Minister that there is no Lethem NDC. Rather, what we have is an Interim Management Committee of the Ireng/Sawariwau Neighbourhood Democratic Council.
Editor, the Prime Minister has been misinformed about my role and has called on residents not to follow me. As an elected member of the Regional Democratic Council, Region 9, people do not follow me, rather I do the following. The people are my bosses and they instruct what issues I must represent. In this instance, hundreds of residents descended on me to take up this cause, and I did so. The people feel that they are being bullied into accepting a rate that they do not want. Mind you, this region voted in the majority for the Prime Minister and his party. The 310 persons who signed the petition to parliament were from across the political spectrum because we did not see this as a political issue, but a community one. Hence the Prime Minister’s attempt to descend into the political arena is strongly condemned by the people who find it an insult to their intelligence.
The Prime Minister posited that the Lethem Power Company Inc (LMPCI) suffered as a result of the dusty conditions and dirty fuel. Is he therefore not concurring with my position that LMPCI lacks managerial capacity? I said so in a recent letter to the press to which the Prime Minister responded. The issue is also reflected in the minutes of the RDC statutory meeting of April 12, 2013. My position has been consistent throughout the years. The situation alluded to almost one year ago has not changed. Who checks on staff at nights? Who ensures that enough water is in the radiators? Is there a night supervisor? Which senior personnel are on call at night? Do we have an engineer 24/7? These are pertinent questions that LMPCI must ask themselves if they are to graduate to being an efficient and reliable provider of electricity.
The Prime Minster is correct when he stated the present power house has been in the present location for decades. He, as a chemical engineer, must be aware of the dusty conditions of the Rupununi. While coastal Guyana has suffered several floods for the past six months, there has hardly been a drop of rain here in central Rupununi, which is bone dry and extraordinarily dusty. Did not the PM, and the management of LMPCI anticipate that? What scientific or engineering remedy is there? Is it affordable? Can’t we improvise? Was the advice of the expert at the last servicing of the engine heeded? He had advised that the fuel be filtered before use, to trap sedimentation and water. When last did LMPCI take a dip for water in the tanks? When last did they bleed the tanks of water? If these questions were not asked then you see what I am talking about when it comes to the management capacity.
Additionally too, the road that passes in front of LMPCI, Barrack Retreat, has been paved at least two times over the past three years. It is once again in a state of disrepair. Isn’t this verification of residents’ claims of substandard works in the region?
We spent hundreds of millions of dollars for four years of hydropower. It is of importance to note, Editor, that the Chinese who built this failed project were rewarded with an entire block in central Lethem, taking in lands that were identified for the extension of the Lethem Community Centre in the process. They have also been given multiple lots in the soon-to-fail Commercial Zone.
As I am on the hydro, a pertinent question to the Prime Minister is whether he is really serious about resuscitating the Moco Moco hydro project? I was at a public meeting with the PM at the Arapaima Primary school and asked about the possibilities of resuscitating the Moco Moco project. The response given by the PM was that the government does not have the money to undertake the project. That was in 2011 or 2012. Subsequent to that a question was posed to Minister Robeson Benn by a businessman as to the cost of resuscitating the project. Minister Benn gave a figure of $20M. Under interrogation by the businessman, the Minister admitted that it was not a lot of money for a government. At a consultation meeting I attended with a team from Germany on January 23 this year. I asked the team leader about the Moco Moco project and his response was that it will take a considerable amount of money and about 4.5 to 5 years to resuscitate the hydro. He informed the meeting that the problem was not mechanical since all of the turbines and supporting apparatus were intact, rather it was a structural problem. Isn’t this a case of negligence? The cost of repairs moved from $20M somewhere in 2012 to a considerable amount of money in 2014.
As we contemplate returning to hydro power what checks are made of the water flow year round? Or, would we be saddled with another Amaila fiasco? It is instructive to note that decades before we even contemplated having a Takutu River Bridge, the Brazilians had water gauges in the vicinity which were studied on a weekly basis. When the time came to build the bridge, they knew exactly where it was to be built. I must admit that many residents of Lethem got the location wrong. Are we doing the same with this hydro, or any other hydro for that matter?
My humble advice to the PM is that when undertaking another hydro, to be careful to ensure that modern technology is used. In the construction of that facility, there was not a crane or a derrick. This project was labour intensive to the extent that even the 999 steps up the Kanuku Mountains were built by ordinary masons – no engineering technology; donkeys and labourers worked to get every piece of material up the 2,500 feet plus mountains. This points to cheap work hence the rapid failure of a project that ought to have lasted us for at least 20 years. And who suffered the consequences? The consumers of course.
I am aware that a former CEO of LMPCI was tasked with locating Brazilian investors to resuscitate the hydro. At least 3 were recommended. After tortuous run-arounds, these investors, one who had in excess of R$800M to invest, were frustrated. So they took their monies elsewhere.
In the meantime LMPCI, at the instigation of the PM, continues to persist with the now unreliable and inadequate F G Wilson 750 engines. I am no expert on these matters, but I did my research. I was reliably informed that these engines are too small to service the needs of this sprawling and ever growing community. I was reliably informed also that the present Regional Chairman had expressed his disapproval of the L G Wilson engines and had offered to take the Directors of LMPCI to Manaus, Brazil, to examine larger engines. This offer was, of course, refused.
The L G Wilson 750, I am told can only produce approximately 0.5MW of power, while the present consumption of the various communities is in excess of 0.9MW. This has resulted in the engines being overworked, which in turn is responsible for the constant breakdowns. As if these breakdowns are not enough, the current blackouts are a result of the complete destruction of one of the engines when a bolt and nut were found on the piston after the engine refused to start. Isn’t this negligence, if not sabotage? Who has been held culpable?
The PM outlined future plans in his long letter. He spoke of a new power station, and informed us that the present station is prone to flooding. Has the PM asked himself why all the power stations on the coast have been built near water? Let us check them: Kingston, Garden of Eden, Versailles, Onverwagt, Sophia, Linden, Anna Regina, Bartica, have all been built near to waterways. I have been reliably informed that the moisture in the soil aids earthing, and reduces the effects of electrical storms which are a common feature in the Rupununi.
The proposed site, of which construction is underway, is in the middle of the savannahs away from any waterway. I am told that this will result in severe consequences for the system and consumers whose appliances will be threatened every time there is such a storm. I am told that chemical earthing will have to be used to ‘fool’ the earth. I am also informed that this is a very expensive undertaking. However, we are told that a ditch will be dug to hold water. Somebody has not been in the Rupununi long enough. If they were, they will know that in the height of the dry season even large sections of the Takutu River dry up. Heaven help us.
The present site can be shored up just like what GT&T has done. I am sure another high water will not affect them. The $143M earmarked for the construction of the new power house could have been used towards resuscitating the Moco Moco hydro project.
I cannot close this letter without commenting on the issue of conflict of interest. For the project site, a serving director has been named clerk of works; a member of the board is allegedly the sole supplier of all sand for the construction and another director has been named acting CEO on the sudden resignation of the immediate past CEO.
Editor, the PM alluded to a policy on subsidies. We, and indeed the entire Guyanese public, would like to be enlightened on those policies. But while the PM is fashioning a response, let him consider the following: Lethem gets $105M a year in subsidies, and according to the PM, this was based on the assumption that we will be having hydro power. That hydro is into its 11th year of failure. For 11 years we have been having that subsidy to provide electricity using fossil fuels. Obviously, the cost of production would have outstripped by far, the cost of producing hydro-electricity. That subsidy has remained unchanged even though Lethem and its environs are growing communities with a consuming public of in excess of 1,000 households and counting.
While he is preparing his response, let him consider that Kwakwani, with less than 600 households, is getting a subsidy of $300M. The cost of getting fuel to Kwakwani, 65 miles from Linden, is obviously less that Lethem which is 350 miles plus from Georgetown. GPL Georgetown gets a subsidy of in excess of $80B. So what policy are we talking about? If that is policy, then it is the most uneven one there is.
The PM was contradictory when he admitted that the majority of the people are not in the cash economy. Editor, once again this is an admission that the government has failed the people of the Rupununi by not creating meaningful employment for our people. If they are not employed, how are they going to pay the millstone-like increases proposed by LMPCI?
Any sensible and caring government would have recognized Lethem as a budding township and nurture it like a mother nurtures her baby. A responsible mother does not allow her child to roam free and fend for itself. That child is taken care of until he/she can fend for her/himself. It is time this administration stops seeing Lethem as a hinterland location, and see us as a town-in-waiting. We are almost there, and we will get there.
As it relates to the issue of electricity for other areas of the Rupununi, and the PM named a few, Annai, Aranaputa and Aishalton, we would like to see every community in Region 9, as a matter of fact every community in Guyana, get electricity. But isn’t the PM contradicting himself? He admitted that running lines is a problem because of the distance between houses. That problem is more pronounced in the areas the PM mentioned.
Additionally, the PM can hardly afford Lethem, how is he going to do it in the other areas is anyone’s guess. It seems that we will be having more of the same inefficiency. What the PM should be considering for the electricity sector is the weaning off of the dependence on fossil fuels and concentrating on renewable energy, in a transparent way of course.
The crux of the matter is our rates were raised from $30/kwh across the board to $55/kwh also across the board in 2009 with a promise that we will be getting 24/7 electricity. That did not happen. We are now being told that we must pay $75/kwh across the board to ensure 24/7 electricity. Who are the fools here? It did not happen at $55 and we have no confidence that it will happen at $75.
In this regard, Editor, the people have reiterated their demands which were contained in a petition to parliament and in a letter to the Prime Minister. These are as follows: that the Public Utilities Commission regulate LMPCI, that a suitably qualified professional be appointed to head the Board of Directors, that the PM take all steps necessary to curb waste and theft, that a consumers representative, chosen by the consumers themselves, be appointed to the board, that a representative of the two Amerindian communities be appointed to the board, and that there be a comprehensive audit of LMPCI which is to be made public.
So, Editor, we see who is unconscionable and who is really not mindful of the residents’ legitimate concerns over this controversial issue. In this regard, I am instructed by a wide cross section of the communities to inform the Prime Minister that the residents of Moco Moco, St Ignatius, Culvert City, Tabatinga, and Lethem, have requested his presence at a joint meeting to be held at the St Ignatius Secondary School at a date to be chosen by him to debate the electricity issue in their communities. I have also been instructed to ask the Prime Minister to come equipped with everyday Guyanese language so that the residents will be able to understand and not feel intimidated by the use of big, fancy words.
Editor, I am also instructed to inform LMPCI that the residents will not pay the increases as of January 1, 2014, since the Prime Minister has informed the National Assembly that any increase is hinged on the installation of the 2 new gensets that are currently on their way to Lethem. LMPCI has once again conned the people of central Rupununi.
Yours faithfully,
Carl A Parker Sr
Regional Councillor
