ECD residents commend GPL maintenance works

Residents along the East Coast Demerara have commended the planned maintenance works executed by the Guyana Power Light Incorporated (GPL) between Liliendaal and Success today.

Crew executing maintenance works on one of GPL’s utility pole

DPI spoke with several citizens in the areas, who agreed that planned maintenance along the network is necessary.

Businesswoman, Ms. Violet Gordon, told DPI the initiative is critical to ensuring a stable supply of electricity since she believes unattended issues within the network may result in prolonged interruption of service.

Resident, Ms. Violet Gordon

“It’s very, very important, not only for business, but for everything because if you don’t have a line [maintenance], it doesn’t maintain, then it would break down and sometimes it takes months and weeks to fix.”

For Mr. Travis Foster, a mason of 15 years, the maintenance work is needed to not only protect GPL’s infrastructure, but also valuable possessions from the fallout from poor power distribution. He said GPL’s initiative will lead to better access to electricity for residents along the East Coast.

Resident, Mr. Travis Foster

“It will improve ’cause you wouldn’t be in a blackout. You won’t get a shortage of current or your appliance in your house wouldn’t blow,” the mason said.

Another resident, Mr. Roger Nateram said GPL should continue similar activities in other communities to ensure households enjoy reliable electricity.  “I think they should keep up the good work, keep pushing it, make sure we get a good, steady current and the people could feel comfortable without no problem,” he said.

Resident, Mr. Roger Nateram

Speaking at one of the worksites in Industry, GPL’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Mr. Samaroo Ramtahal provided an overview of the works undertaken following numerous inspections and analyses.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Mr. Samaroo Ramtahal

“Our plans today are to fix the network issues… For example, there are cases where the poles are not plumbed. There are cases where poles are rotten and that stretches from Liliendaal all the way to Success. We are changing all those poles,” he said.

Additionally, the GPL official said the exercise also entailed the replacement of switches on the wires accompanied by the clearing of vegetation that had encroached on the poles and wires.

GPL’s Network Operations Manager, Ms. Shawn Hamlet said similar works will be done on circuits from the Columbia, Golden Grove, and Ruimveldt substations. This major undertaking is scheduled for next week.

Network Operations Manager within GPL, Ms. Shawn Hamlet

Works on the Columbia F3-feeder that serves customers from Columbia to Enmore will be undertaken next week.

Public Relations Officer, Ms. Shevion Sears said customers are informed of GPL’s planned maintenances before, during, and after those projects are done. She said the company has adopted this approach to build corporate social relations.