Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 25, 2012 News
By Leonard Gildarie
Government’s electricity programme has suffered months of delays because of a shortage of wallaba poles.
The state-owned Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) has now moved to find alternatives including steel or reinforced concrete poles.
The problem has been brewing for several years now but has placed GPL in a crunch that has delayed expansion works in new housing areas by up to two years.
The power company’s Chief Executive Officer, Bharat Dindyal, yesterday admitted that a US$40M project to run new transmission lines on the coastlands have run into trouble with works delayed by at least eight months.
And the problem may not necessarily be that the wallaba trees are not there in the forests. Rather, loggers and suppliers have been holding GPL and the Chinese contractor, China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation, at “ransom”.
According to the official, GPL and the Chinese company were forced to fork out over more money for the poles but still received short supplies.
The problem has affected electrification of new housing schemes and regular maintenance, Dindyal said.
Currently, GPL has an urgent need for 12,000 poles but has only been receiving between 700 and 800 monthly.
The Chinese contractor has also been receiving just over 100 poles monthly, a fraction of the 800 it immediately needs for its work.
So what exactly is the problem? According to Dindyal, suppliers are claiming that their forestry concessions simply do not have any more logs in commercial quantities. Loggers claim that they have to travel farther into the backdams for the wallaba trees, incurring more costs.
The Guyana Forestry Commission has reportedly said that it has issued enough logging concessions that have the wallaba trees. But there are reports that some concession operators are just not harvesting enough.
Whatever the reasons being given, GPL, according to Dindyal, is no longer buying it.
“We can no longer be held to ransom and that is why we are examining alternatives.”
Wallaba is known for its resilience to harsh conditions for years and has been a cheap source as poles for not only GPL but also the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T).
According to an advertisement by GPL in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle yesterday, it was inviting interested parties to submit expressions of interests for the supply of “alternative types of poles”.
These include the possibilities of pre-stressed and reinforced concrete, tubular steel, treated pine or composite.
Companies have until today to submit the bids.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 28, 2024
Minister Ramson challenge athletes to better last year’s performance By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – Guyana’s 23-member contingent for the CARIFTA Games in Grenada is set to depart the...B.V. Police Station Kaieteur News – The Beterverwagting Police Station, East Coast Demerara (ECD) will be reconstructed... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – In the face of escalating global environmental challenges, water scarcity and... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]