Dear Editor,
I must commend the new government for the consideration given to the development of the Indigenous people as laid out in the ten-point plan. I must however express my disappointment with the decision to install solar farms to power Indigenous villages.
The installation of solar farms will not meet the electrical demands to foster economic development. The manufacture of such farms is now in the developmental stage mainly because of the need to overcome the problem of storage which is required by night and during periods of inclement weather. In any event such farms will not serve the purpose in the Rupununi where we experience six continuous months of rainy weather annually.
I know that such a decision by the government was done with good intention but more research should have been done before making this commitment. We need cheap and reliable energy to power machines to manufacture cassava bi-products, refrigerators and freezers for business places and guest houses, welding sets and power tools owned by villagers who acquired the skills from the HEYS programme, as well as hospital complexes in Aishalton and Moruca. We also need radio stations, cable television and the Internet.
I view the installation of solar farms as an experiment and a way to demonstrate that we are going green, but this is at the expense of our development. This can even be viewed as discrimination since the government would not contemplate installing such farms in villages on the coast.
Yours faithfully
Patrick Fitzpatrick
