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Oct 18, 2009 News
– PM Hinds tells Parliament
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, during an impromptu debate in the National Assembly on Thursday, sparked by a motion led by Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin, has disclosed that the new 20 MW Kingston Power Station will commence test runs in the coming week.
It is expected that consumers will be hooked up in three weeks time.
Hinds also pleaded with the residents who have been plagued over recent weeks to endure a while longer with the company since the load shedding was unavoidable.
With the new plant on stream, the power outages are expected to ease considerably.
Corbin, in his presentation on the motion, said that it is ironic that after 17 years things are getting worse before it gets better.
The Opposition Leader noted that all of the remedies being touted now as it relates to hydropower, renewable energy and increased generation, were all known to the administration when they took office in 1992.
He said that at the time the studies had been completed and the reports were all in which the new administration could have used and acted on. He questioned the wait.
According to Corbin, the PNCR had recognized long before 1992 that there was a need for the increased power generation.
He posited that because of the political climate at the time, its hydropower project did not become a reality since that project was sabotaged. As such there was a legitimate reason for the shortfall of electricity supply by the PNCR.
According to Corbin, the Peoples Progressive Party in its 2006 manifesto spoke of how electricity was important to the quality of life for people and that they could look forward to a bright future and now three years later, it is yet to materialize.
He also recalled that in May 2008, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GPL had said that at the time the only options available to them were tariff hikes or load shedding.
This, he said, was an announcement that was subsequent to a tariff hike that was put in place a few months earlier.
Domestic users were given a six per cent increase and government entities were increased to 20 per cent.
According to Corbin, the nation was living on empty promises by an incompetent administration.
The government is famous for dictating the amount of money spent behind the electricity sector but according to Corbin the issue was not how much is spent but rather, “are we getting value for money?”
Dismissing Corbin’s musings as an apology for what his administration did in the past, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds sought to explain the current plethora of power outages.
He explained that over the years there has been a steady increase in the capacity and sustainability of electricity supply but emphasized the significant demand increase in recent times.
“What one wants to do is different from what one could afford.” As it relates to the recent outages, the Prime Minister first pointed out that the 69 KVA power lines that connects the Sophia and Kingston Power stations have caused unavoidable power interruptions since the lines had to cut though several feeder lines that had to be rendered inactive for periods as much as eight hours. He explained that the current change over in sections of the power grid from 50 cycles to 60 cycles were also another source of unavoidable power outages.
Hinds did reassure that come November 5, the interconnection will be completed and the new Generation Plant at Kingston will be fully operational.
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