The crisis gripping Linden continued yesterday as Lindeners received very little power and water after their steam plant conked out and they vowed to continue their blockades which have forced the Omai mines to close and is threatening other operations.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds, who travelled to the bauxite mining town yesterday to explain the relief measures being taken met with various stakeholders but got a hostile response from protesters who drowned out his presentation and forced him to quit after a few minutes. The protesters insisted that President Bharrat Jagdeo visit them to give firm assurances.
The management of the Omai Gold Mines Limited was forced to send home some 450 of its employees over the past two days after shutting down its mill operations. Most of these persons are from Linmine. Head of the firm Rejean Gourde told Stabroek News that protesters in the mining community refused to agree to allow the company to transport fuel into the mine site. He noted that at present the company is working with a very small fuel supply it has in reserve and a skeleton staff at the mines. A skeleton staff is also on at the Linden Yard and the Georgetown office. Gourde was optimistic that the situation would have returned to normalcy and fuel would be able to come through by the weekend following the visit to the mining town by Prime Minister Hinds yesterday. This was not to be.
During Hinds' visit to Linden yesterday an obviously frustrated crowd of protesters made it clear that they would not move until they were convinced that the electricity and water supply had returned to normalcy and President Jagdeo visits the town.
This was conveyed to Hinds after he was informed that a group of protesters was at the entrance to Watooka House where he was holding a meeting with stakeholders. The first session of the meeting was brought to an end and the PM in the company of Minister of Health Leslie Ramsammy, Minister of Housing and Water Shaik Baksh, CEO of Linmine Horace James, Regional Chairman Mortimer Mingo and others went to address the protesters. As the Prime Minister attempted to address the group they demanded that he follow them to the bridge which links the two banks of the Demerara River to have an audience with a larger number of protesters and he complied.
Hinds attempted to explain the current situation facing the Linden Power Company (LPC), and the measures that are being taken by the government and other stakeholders to have the problem return to normalcy at the earliest possible time. The crowd began shouting "go away, go away" until the PM finally decided to leave a few minutes later. Before he departed several persons seized the opportunity to express their frustrations. "Is one week now we out here protesting and is only now you come to see what's going on here - it's a shame when Berbice had its crisis look how quick de president run and go to dem. Wah man! Linden is not part to Guyana? Sir we ain't moving till de president come to we with something solid", one woman said.
Most of the protesters carried placards which read "No Jagdeo No Bridge", "Where is our so caring government", "Sam step aside, Jagdeo come forward".
Earlier at the meeting with the stakeholders Hinds had appealed to them to join him in the bid to convince the protestors to free up access to the interior location. The protesters have been blocking the road which leads to several interior concessions. The Prime Minister said he had hoped that the leaders including himself and government would acknowledge that there were things that together they could do and could have done at the level of the Mayor and Town Council and the Regional Democratic Council with LPC and Linmine. "I thought that I should say that to set a base for working together and going forward." He also noted that it was a known fact that Linden is a gateway to the interior. "All of the interior has been held up. All of us, the region, town council, chamber of commerce, have been talking for some years about Linden becoming the gateway to the interior. If one is important, one has also to be responsible".
He went on to say that it was not reasonable that all the people beyond Linden are starting to reconsider and put in alternative arrangements. Timber company UNAMCO has been having problems opposite Kwakwani and the government is in possession of a letter from that company indicating that they are close to shutting down. If they did shut down it was unlikely they would restart operations. He noted that the Aroaima Bauxite Company also has issues.
Power supply had returned to the entire town of Linden shortly after midnight on Wednesday. The plant manager of the Linden Power Company at yesterday's meeting confirmed this. However while the meeting was in progress the power manager was informed that the motor that was installed on Wednesday had started vibrating heavily. As he was releasing that information to the stakeholders the lights went out cutting power to the whole town. The plant manager, Steve Bovell, had informed the gathering that the boiler feed pump that was shipped into the country on Tuesday by LPC for its steam plant was not of the required specification.
"That pump because of its configuration is a much different pump from the one that is in service now and major modification to the piping etc would have to be effected and that couldn't be accomplished in three days or four days time span." He said the modification process would take over a week. It was on that note the company took the decision to utilise the recently rehabilitated boiler feed pump to allow some relief to the community. However that lasted for approximately fourteen hours. At the time the company was generating 8.7 MW of power. According to C.E.O of Linmine, Horace James, that was sufficient to supply the general public and allow Linmine to heat up its kiln. He noted however that by Saturday when the company would have been ready to start processing it would have had to resort to a slight load shedding programme. The bauxite plant requires 10 MW of electricity if it is to process bauxite. Since the failure of the steam plant yesterday afternoon the entire Wismar shore has been without power supply up to press time. Across at Mackenzie only a small section of central Mackenzie has been supplied with power on and off. This power is coming from one of two small generators that the government has made available from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
Bovell has said that LPC is working towards having the pump which was shipped in completed by April 17. The problems at LPC primarily surround the boiler feed pumps. LPC's two engines at the Diesel Power Plant have been down as a consequence of losing their turbo chargers last Saturday. One replacement turbo charger has since been ordered and is expected to arrive in the country on Tuesday next. He noted that he got the assurance from the Prime Minister yesterday that it is most likely that funding would be made available to purchase the second turbo charger which should arrive in the country in another two weeks time.
The initiative by Omai Gold Mines Limited to make available to Linden three diesel sets with the capacity to generate 9 MW of power will be set back since the company is now losing working time which it would have to make up when it is allowed to transport fuel. This will further extend the previously set timetable of three months for installing the 9 mw.
Yesterday, there was another exchange of correspondence between President Jagdeo and PNCR Leader Robert Corbin on the situation. On April 9, Corbin had written the President enquiring about the government's efforts to provide relief and inviting him to go to Linden with him to meet with other stakeholders.
The president replied on the same day and in the correspondence released yesterday, said he "fully understood the discomfort and suffering facing the Linden community ... I, too, share the view that Lindeners are not fully aware of the efforts being made to restore electricity and water supply and this has led to some amount of confusion in some quarters".
He pointed out to Corbin that on Saturday two GPL sets were transported to Linden but that some problems were experienced in hooking them up. In addition, a power generating set has been transferred from Aroaima to Ituni to bring relief to that Region 10 area. He also pointed out that a component for the steam plant had been flown in and once activated there would be sufficient power this weekend. This is the same part that Bovell yesterday said has to be modified. The President further pointed out that he has directed that two more 1.25 MW sets be leased from MACORP for Linden. The sets are due to leave the USA today.
Over the longer term he noted that he had met with the management of Omai with a view to accelerating its plans to construct a nine MW power station in Linden and this should be in place before the end of July as part of that company's planned investment in Linmine.
Further, to deal with the water problem, the Minister of Water has been tasked with ensuring that water is delivered by tank to various points in Linden.
He thanked Corbin for his concern over the situation and said that he would be visiting the town in the "coming days".
Corbin in response to this letter, dispatched a reply yesterday which said that "it should be emphasized that the problems do not only relate to water and electricity, but the total collapse of those systems was really the catalyst for the recent public unrest. It is regrettable that this visit could not have been undertaken immediately, but as discussed in our telephone conversation earlier today, I stand ready to go to Linden at any time to discuss with you and other stakeholders of Linden ... the early resolution of the issues which seriously affect them at this time".