Engineers from China are expected in Guyana shortly to look at the prospects of repairs to the Moco Moco Hydropower Station.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds yesterday confirmed that a team from China is expected, although he could not say how soon. But a reliable source told Stabroek News that team could arrive in the country as early as today.

The hydropower station, which supplies residents of Lethem and neighbouring communities, has not been in operation since July last year, when it was damaged by landslides on the Moco Moco Mountain. Since that time, generation has been substituted by a 375 KVA diesel generator and power has been rationed to the people who live at Lethem, St Ignatius, Culvert City, Tabatinga, Moco Moco village and the Moco Moco settlement.

Yesterday, Hinds said the team would make proposals for the restoration of the power station, as well as projections for the cost and the time frame for such a project.

The team from China was expected since last year, not long after the station was damaged. Hinds said that team, which does not include the engineers who originally designed the power station, was only selected after a competitive bidding process in China.

In Region Nine, residents are now experimenting with an 18-hour power supply. Electricity is supplied from 6 am to 3 pm and 6 pm to midnight, six hours more than the initial feed.

A source told Stabroek News that the consumption capacity of the residents would be reviewed at the end of the month to decide whether it is viable to maintain the 18-hour supply.

Meanwhile, Stabroek News was told that the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry is trying to lobby the Mekdeci Mining Company (MMC) to waive the $25,000 toll on trucks which use the Kuru-pukari crossing to carry fuel to Lethem.

The Government of Guyana built the station with technical and financial assistance from the People's Republic of China. In November 1999, President Bharrat Jagdeo commissioned the project.