APNU will restore GPL subsidy if progress is seen

TIMES INT'L

The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) said it will restore the Gy$ 5.2 billion subsidy for the Guyana Power and Light

Dr Rupert Roopnaraine
Dr Rupert Roopnaraine

(GPL) Inc only if progress is guaranteed.

 APNU’s Executive Member Dr Rupert Roopnaraine told a news conference on Monday that the coalition held meetings with the power company to discuss the restoration of the funds which were cut from its allocation. After the funds were cut, GPL said it needed to raise tariffs to make up for the shortfall in financing for its capital project by an initial 17 per cent, but that percentage ballooned to a whopping 26.7 per cent.

Amid public outcry at the proposed steep hike in rates, President Donald Ramotar instructed the GPL board not to implement the hike at the end of May, as it threatened, as he was sure something would be worked out with the parliamentary opposition.

“The president’s instruction to GPL betrays a strong indication by the administration that something may be yet done. And obviously, it would have to be done at the level of Parliament and I might take the liberty of identifying that engagements have been made with the parliamentary opposition and would have to continue,” government spokesman Dr Roger Luncheon had said in announcing that the administration will re-engage the joint parliamentary opposition with the aim of restoring the axed funds from the 2013 national budget.

Dr Roopnaraine made it clear that the APNU will continue to demand that GPL’s board of directors answer critical questions posed by the opposition.

“We do believe that for us to come to a logical and national conclusion in relation to what we were asking of GPL is essential; … explain to us why over this length of time they have not made the kind of progress in relation to reducing commercial and technical losses that one might have expected,” the APNU vice chairman explained.

He reiterated that the coalition will not restore the funds if the power company continues to withhold crucial information regarding its operations.

GPL Chief Executive Officer Bharat Dindyal maintains that the subsidy from government is critical in completing a number of outstanding projects at various locations countrywide.

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