The power crisis has sparked protest action by residents in the Linden community.

Apart from making available 2.5 megawatts of electricity from a Linden Power Company (LPC) generating unit yesterday afternoon, the Government was also exploring with Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) the possibility of releasing two mobile sets from Sophia and dispatching them to Linden, Mr. Hinds said.

Once released, those sets were expected to be in Linden by midnight last night. The units should be online by midday today providing an additional 2.5 megawatts of power, the Prime Minister said.

That would provide some eight hours of electricity per day. However, the removal of the mobile sets from Sophia could mean a shortfall in the supply of electricity in Georgetown, he said.

At a news conference at State House, Georgetown, the Prime Minister, who has responsibility for the electricity sector, said the Government was also considering leasing two additional sets from the MACORP company. Those sets would take about a month to be shipped from their location to Guyana and put on line. He said a decision would be taken tomorrow on whether that step should be taken and how it would be financed.

The cost of the MACORP lease is US$25,500 per month for 200 hours, and a further cost for every additional hour. The cost of fuel must also be factored in, the Prime Minister said.

In addition, the LINMINE machine shop is working on repairs to the machinery now out of operation. Another unit has also been located in the U.S. and arrangements are being made to get it here by Thursday. Once it arrives, it will take about 48 hours to get the steam power station on line, Mr. Hinds reported.

Giving a background to the problem, he said the Linden power plant broke down about eight days ago and triggered the crisis which has had consequences for residences and businesses alike. He said the steam power plant which was back in service last Wednesday, went out of operation in 12 hours. The two or three serviceable LPC diesel sets available proved unreliable.

LINMINE, the bauxite company, shut down its operations after it had completed loading an important shipment. The Prime Minister said the company shut down so that all the power available could be at the disposal of the community.

LINMINE also dispatched a schedule to the Prime Minister which projected at least eight hours of electricity per day for the community.

"However, things got worse and this morning, I was told the only diesel generating set that was working broke down, and so...from 10 o'clock or earlier this morning, Linden was totally without power. The media had already been carrying, from last evening, the blocking of the Mackenzie Bridge and the Government began working to see how we could begin bringing some additional power to Linden," the Prime Minister said.

He told reporters that "power is being provided by the Linden Power Company at economic prices and there's lots of support for electricity to the Linden community. In fact, it runs at about G$80M per month of support that goes into paying the economic price for electricity whilst for historical reasons, the price paid by the Linden community is only a very small portion of the costs. I say this just to point out, just to remind people that (there are) significant cash flows to support electricity in Linden."

"I want to say too that whilst we recognise the sufferings and inconvenience...consequent to the LPC not being able to supply power, we must condemn many of the activities that we are hearing about, once they are true. We have seen video (footage) of the blocking of the bridge across the (Demerara) river.

"I have been told too that there has been a blocking of the boats that transport people across the river. We are told too there has been a blocking of the road to Georgetown, the area of the bridge across the Karakara (creek)", the Prime Minister said.

He added: "We've been told too that when some people try to get about their business by going around the back across the bridge that...stretches through Amelia's Ward, that that was also blocked and a fire was set there.