Berbice business grouping flays GPL over outages
BERBICE Chamber of Commerce and Development Association (BCCDA) is meeting top management of Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) tomorrow about the electricity crisis in the county. BCCDA President, Mr Mohamed Raffik said they will raise several "pertinent matters" and enquire about a contingency plan for the present problem as well as GPL's future programme for Berbice. Raffik said his organisation is not satisfied that GPL is treating the breakdown of its main generating set and the resulting frequent power outages with great urgency. "The entire Berbice community, since New Year's Day, has been without regular electricity, in some areas for more than 24 hours. And, where there is power, home appliances are threatened by low voltage," he lamented. He said, from 11 megawatts, Berbice is now being serviced with three. Raffik said the two weeks within which GPL said repairs would be effected are "unrealistically too long" and he suggested one week instead. According to him, production in vital areas is at a standstill and people's lives are being "badly affected" by the lengthy power failure "in an age of major technicological development". Raffik said he hopes this would be the last such experience and urged GPL to ensure that spares are always available in event of another equipment malfunction.
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