Prime Minister Sam Hinds along with Ministers of Health and Local Government, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and Harripersaud Nokta respectively visited the community yesterday and toured the LPC generating station to acquaint themselves with what is being done to restore power generation to normalcy.

According to the General Manager of LPC, Steve Bovell the steam plant is back in operation as a result of an old boiler feeder pump being repaired and on Tuesday last a new pump arrived in the country, while another one will be repaired. This will result in having three pumps in service, while only one is needed for the operation of the steam plant. The two others will be used as back ups.

In addition, two mobile generating sets from GPL have been deployed to provide back up to the steam plant. However, only one of the sets is in operation.

Efforts are also being made to bring back two of the diesel generating sets into operation with one likely to be in use by next Wednesday as the needed turbocharger is expected to arrive in the country by next Tuesday. The other set should be in operation in another three weeks with the arrival of another turbocharger.

The Prime Minister also disclosed that two additional Macorp sets of 2.5 megawatts capacity will be acquired on a lease arrangement and they should arrive here in another three weeks.

He also revealed that under the arrangement which will involves Omai Gold Mines in the bauxite industry, that company is planning to bring in three Wartsila Plants with a capacity of 2.5 megawatts each. This would significantly boost generating capacity.

Bovell said that the peak demand for electricity in the mining town is about 10.1 megawatts and as a result of the restoration efforts power generation has reached just over nine megawatts and when repairs to the two diesel sets with a 2.5 megawatts are completed and returned to service the power generation level will be adequate.

After touring the LPC generating station Hinds held a meeting at the Watooka Club with representatives of the Regional Democratic Council, the Mayor and City Council, affected stakeholders and members of the community to review and update them on what is being done to restore the situation to some degree of comfort, and at the same time to listen to the views of the representatives present.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the discomfort the power supply situation had caused including the disruption of the functioning of LINMINE and other companies operating in the environs of the mining town.

He assured Lindeners that the Government is not discriminating against or neglecting them, pointing that it has been heavily subsidising power generation in the town, stemming from a historical practice. He revealed that subsidies for last year alone amounted to about $1.8 billion dollars.

Referring to the blockage of the roadways and bridges by residents, he exhorted them that in the present situation they “should not shoot themselves in the foot” but instead learn from communities which have had to face similar difficulties.

Citing the difficulty in Lethem with respect to lower levels of electricity supply by the Moco-Moco hydro-station, Hinds noted how the Regional administration in collaboration with the community was able to come up with an alternative plan to overcome the problem which was caused by the very low level of the Moco Moco Creek due to the extensive dry season. He explained that a diesel generation set bought by the Government has been used to provide additional generating capacity and the residents have agreed to pay an additional $10 per kilowatt-hour to pay for fuel from Brazil. “This is an instructive experience,” the Prime Minister asserted.

He urged that all stakeholders should collaboratively come up with alternative arrangements in the face of serious difficulties, observing that Linden has the capacity to become the gateway to the interior and presently the operations of several companies depend on access through Linden.

Alluding to the shutdown or scaling down of operations by several companies operating in the environs of Linden including UNAMCO and Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL), and LINMINE itself, the Prime Minister observed that the present situation in Linden has not done anything positive to the recent visit here by the Russian aluminium company RUSAL which is exploring the possibility of doing business with Guyana.

He called on the authorities in Linden to appeal and to do everything possible to persuade the protesters to remove the obstacles blocking roadways and bridges in order to restore the confidence that Linden is the gateway to the interior.

The Prime Minister’s agenda had also included a meeting with representatives of protesters. However, during that meeting a group of boisterous protesters arrived at the entrance of the Club demanding that the Prime Minister meet with them at the blocked bridge which connects Wismar and Mackenzie. To make matters worse there was brief interruption of power supply which was only restored several hours before.

This resulted in the Prime Minister adjourning the meeting and proceeded to the bridge to speak with the protesters who had gathered there. However, on his arrival he was prevented from speaking with loud chanting and hostility by the protesters, demanding that that they want the President to visit the town and that they do not want to listen to The Prime Minister.

Consequently, the Prime Minister was forced to return to the Club to continue his meeting.

On resumption of the meeting several contributors expressed grave concerns that the town will come to a standstill and the suffering of residents will escalate.

Among those who voiced their concerns were Jim Parks of the Linden Chamber of Commerce, Norman McClean, Human Resources Officer of Omai Gold mines and Assistant Town Clerk of Linden, Hassan Abdulbaasit.

Parks alluded to the losses by members of the business community and requested that this matter be addressed.

The Prime Minister in his reply acknowledged the issue but pointed that LPC is not under the purview of the Public Utilities Commission.

Abdulbaasit spoke of the need for a better public relations approach to diffuse the present volatile atmosphere, but noted that the Regional Democratic Council is not allowed access to the Linden TV Station (LTV).

Hinds promised to look into the matter.

McClean informed the meeting that his company’s operations have been severely curtailed with fuel tankers not being able to transport fuel to its operational site because of the blockage of the bridges and roads.