Cainsta:

Are you saying Indian people are "tiefin the whole dam country" or just the Indians politicians in the PPP ?

RE: THE HYDRO

It's all up to the IDB---will they allow the Chinese and Sithe to build a hydro that can really be developed at half the estimated 1 billion dollar cost.

Rev

The theft of electricity is not unique to Guyana. What is troubling though is the fact that afc/pnc politicians send mixed signals to the people when on one hand they claim that electricity is high but turn a blind eye to the stealing and make excuses for the thieves. Their support of the Linden criminals was another debacle, why are they advocating subsidies for one set of people and none for another given equal economic circumstances? Political prostitution is their forte.

Now there are solutions to electricity theft, in theory at least. On Indian writer suggest a tiered approach to the problem.

How to stop electricity theft

By Engr Tahir Basharat Cheema | From InpaperMagzine | 3rd January, 2011

 

ELECTRICITY theft makes up a hefty 25 per cent of the estimated 22 per cent total line losses. At today’s tariff rates, this translates into a staggering Rs50–75 billion. Unfortunately, the cases of electricity thefts are increasing, affecting the very viability of the power sector.

Stemming this loss can result in curbing the growth in electricity rates by at least 10–15 per cent. Another 0.7 million customers have since been detected for thefts during July to November 2010 in addition to the 1.50 million found during 2009-10. Still greater efforts are required to completely stop theft.

How do we do it? A ten points agenda is suggested to be put in place. The first step is to divide and map the DISCOs (and of course, the KESC) into fully complaint, semi-complaint and non-complaint zones through a colour coding system viz green for the first category, orange for the second and red for the renegades.

The second of the steps would be to quantify the exact areas where theft goes on unchecked – actual detailed mapping would take place on the DISCO and its subordinate offices level viz. at the circle, the division and the sub-division. This step is bound to narrow down the non-complaint areas to specific pockets which then can be dealt appropriately. The mapping would see a vast green with orange and red islands here and there – giving us the needed areas to focus.

The third of the steps is for the CEO in case of the DISCO, the superintending engineer at the circle level, the executive engineer for the division and the sub-divisional officers at the sub-divisional level to focus personally on the non-complaint red areas on the maps.

The focus would comprise many facets viz. to understand the reasons for the theft in the area, as to how it could be minimised, tools needed, implementation strategy, tactics to be employed, help required from within and from without the organisation; whether just watch and ward would do the job or whether more than that would be needed, where exactly would be the main area of non-compliance. Whether taking out this problem would make the rest of the edifice of non-compliance collapse or that the problem was across the board etc. and lastly, if the people of the area could be made partners in eradication of the menace.

Incidentally, the focus would be area specific because a generic plan cannot succeed. This is also why mapping is suggested to be taken up at all levels. In other words, the fourth step would be the preparation of a complete all en-compassing plan based on the information gleaned out of the ten different facets of the third step.

Fifth step: In the instant case, the DISCO, the Circle, the Division or the Sub-Division of any DISCO would take up a strategy based on a scenario where the ink spot or the non-complaint red area would slowly contract/reduce in size moving towards the centre and where eventually it would disappear merging into the green complaint areas.

Sixth step: It would entail the measurement of energy being supplied to the customers at all levels. As PEPCO has already provided for metering at the 500/200/132/11 KV levels and which would further enhance after its Secured Metering Project gets implemented, the main problem lies at the presently un-metered LT. sub-stations.

The provision of metering at the LT Sub-stations, that is, just before the customer mains would allow the utility managers to calculate the exact number of electricity units that are not being billed and thus would be able to also pinpoint the areas of theft and the exact quantum in unit terms. This information would help the utilities in prioritising their action. Thus the focus can be on hi-unit loss areas and not where just the percentage loss in high.

The seventh step would be the actual field operation in shape of the combing exercise. As the plan formulated on the basis of the fourth step would provide the field combing team with necessary data, the actual combing would be comparatively easy. The combing would take on the easy targets in the first go i.e. the customers who have either bypassed the energy meters or have damaged the equipment.

The second combing activity would be to unearth consumers who adopt other measures to extract energy. This could be reversing of meter registers, stopping meters to register energy for various periods of times, illegal hooking of electricity lines and so on. Thus the non-complaint or the spotted areas would turn into complaint ones where customers would pay for what they use.

The eighth step would be securing of the metering equipment and introduction of new technologies leading even to the smart grids in the long run. This step would be taken up concurrently with the earlier seven of the steps.

The ninth step would be the replication of the overall strategy for the whole of the country.

The final step would be to change the legislation in support of utility operations through re-drafting of the Electricity Act of 1910, the Electricity Rules of 1937, the Nepra Act and even the Telegraph Act of 1885

Warria, Namaste!

Aw me laad who taak about tiefing? Me only seh dem should pay dem fair share. Wen yu ask dem fu pay wah ada peeple ah pay, dem ah go an bun dung school and ada bilding. Dem na mek am; suh dem doan kay. Me ah taak wrang ting man?

PAGING DEMERARA_GUY:

DG:

You have an engineering background and worked in hydro---can you do some research and tell me how much it would really cost to develop a 165MW hydro----based on what I have seen----a 165MW hydro should cost between 450-500 million(US)

Rev

listen to 'rev' braying invincibly ignorant just the other day:

https://guyana.crowdstack.io/topic/re...1#308664320790066721

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[Rev:] ". . . regardless of the final cost of the Amaila falls hydro--it may end up costing over a billion dollars--but regardless of the final cost---the revenues from Amaila will cover the cost of the project many times over.

Look! The start up costs for a large scale hydro like Amaila will be high--but once completed the operational and manpower costs are low---making returns on investment very high."

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THIS is a small taste of the "investment banker wisdom" offered up on GNI by this fool who is only NOW tuning in to the painfully OBVIOUS which any 1st year business student would have flagged from the get go.

All races teif when they can it's the barefaced excessive tiefin in Govt that worries the people.

You have it in the reverse. The Chinese are willing to lend to corrupt regimes which will get trapped. The WB will only lend under the highest level of transparency. 

You should go tell that to the people of the former Zaire.

Nat’l stakeholder consultation on US$840M Amaila project…Media barred from asking questions

Government yesterday sponsored a national stakeholders’ consultation at the International Conference Centre to attempt to win support for the US$840M Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project.
Inexplicably, the media was barred from asking any questions.
“This is quite strange since the media are stakeholders. They also represent the interest of the wider society.
“The media are more privy to information on the issues which they help the people to understand,” said Kaieteur News’ Editor in Chief Adam Harris. 
“It is the media that reported on the many issues that today form the subject of debates nationally. When the government secretly signed the Cheddi Jagan International Airport deal, the local media made the public aware. And that is only one,” Harris said.
President Donald Ramotar, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, and Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali were the main presenters. They all remained silent when Junior Finance Minister, Juan Edghill, barred the media.
Also present were representatives of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Private Sector Commission, the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association and other stakeholders. None of these objected to the barring of the media.
A Stabroek News Reporter was able to ask the first and only question, but this was before Edghill imposed the restriction.
One query raised by Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, who during the forum sought answers from Prime Minister Hinds, who holds responsibility for the energy sector, was deferred with a promise to meet with Ram at some future date.
Ram also told the forum that while the payments to the project contractors, Sithe Global, will begin at US$110M, they will incrementally increase to some $145M by the 13th year of the plant’s operation.
Prime Minister Hinds however denied that this would be so.
Hinds maintained that Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) will only have to pay US$110M annually. But he agreed to check the technical details.
Regarding other queries raised by Ram, the Government, specifically Housing Minister Ali, committed to meeting with Ram. He will bring along a team from Government at a subsequent time and forum to discuss the matters.
President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Clinton Urling, queried Government’s willingness to agree to an independent analysis of the project.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds addressing the gathering. Sitting to his immediate left is Moderator, Juan Edghill.

Minister Ali in response said that this was already done by the International Monetary Fund which spoke glowingly about the soundness and sustainability of the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project.

110MW
Preceding the question and answer segment were presentations, one by PM Hinds, who assured that with the coming on stream of the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project, there will be a reduction in the tariff paid for electricity.
He noted, too, that currently the electricity demand, including the coming on stream of Linden, is just about 110MW. He did not address the fact that Amaila will only guarantee 105MW, as had been indicated by Ram the previous day.
According to Hinds, the project is expected to be completed in the course of four years, and by then, it is projected that the demand for electricity will increase to accommodate the 165MW to be produced by the hydropower plant.
He said that Government would want to see the self-generators of electricity come back on the national grid.
Minster Ali in his presentation said that only recently there was a meeting with a major airline, and one of the many questions they had surrounded the large projects being undertaken in Guyana, including the Marriott Hotel, the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, as well as the Hydro project.
While there was no presentation of documents to back up what was being said, Ali argued that the project is financially sound, and further, has been a hallmark of each of Guyana’s previous Presidents.
Speaking to the issue of raising the debt ceiling for public corporations that can be guaranteed by Government when it was last adjusted in 1980, he said that it was the equivalent of US$400M.
Taking into account the comparison between the two periods, it should be raised to US$1.1B as against the US$750M Government is pushing for.
In speaking to Guyana’s ability to service its debt, he said that in the 1980s, the external debt was as high as 73 per cent of GDP. Today it is 23 per cent.

Rebased
Ram, challenged the figures. He emphasized that those figures could not be accurately used in a comparison given that there was a recent rebasing of the National Accounts.

But Ali said that with the coming on stream of the Amaila Falls project, there will be a reduction in the importation of fuel by 20 to 25 per cent, and argued that the savings outweigh the annual payments.
Minister Ali said that with Amaila in place, the electricity tariff will be reduced by 40 per cent and he sought to explain the ripple effect of such a reduction, both to households and businesses.

Vocal critic of the current format for the project, Christopher Ram, poses a question to the panel.

Ali added that with the Hydro Power project in place, Guyana would qualify for an additional US$10M in the sale of carbon credits.
He said that the country has over time lost out in terms of several large investors, primarily because of the high cost of energy.
He said the project is sustainable, viable and would serve to create wealth.
To kill it, he stressed, would pose a severe problem for the nation, given the message it would send in relation to foreign direct investment.

Not a Government Project

Ali said that the Amaila Falls Project is not a Government project but rather a private sector- driven one, with significant Foreign Direct Investment.
President Donald Ramotar in his plea for a “buy-in” on the project said that if Guyana is to move from its current status as a middle income developing country to a developed country, then the Amaila Falls Hydro facility is critical.
“Every leader in Guyana in the past has wrestled with the idea and the issue of how to develop Guyana further, and while this administration has managed to put in place a significant amount of infrastructure in order to move to the next level, it will require cheaper energy,” Ramotar said.

“It is time to pitch our eyes to the future, not be confined to the present and allow our past to shackle us,” the President said.
“The dream of hydro power and its benefits can be realized in this generation of Guyanese,” said Ramotar, who went on to state that it is because he realized the critical nature of the project, he had arranged consultations with the political opposition, and had included representatives of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Ramotar expressed his surprise at the negative stance being taken. “Almost everything, if not everything, has been shared with the political opposition”.
In his plea for support for the project, Ramotar also emphatically stated that “standing still is not an option; standing still means you will be left behind.”
The Head of State said that Guyana’s economy is not as minuscule as previous times when debt servicing was oppressive, and added that the savings as a result of the Amaila project will be enormous.

THE AMAILA FALLS HYDRO ELECTRIC PROJECT

Sithe Global has been contracted as the developer of the project, and has already inked a contract with China Railway First Group to construct the facility.
In terms of how the money will be used, Sithe Global officials had explained that the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) cost of the actual project will amount to some US$519.6M.

President Donald Ramotar (far left) makes a case for the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project during the National Stakeholder Consultation.

The total capital costs for the project, according to the officials, will be US$652.5M, taking into consideration additional construction, development, start-up, as well as a contingency. The remaining US$187.8M will go towards financing costs which include Interest during Construction (US$97.1M), Lenders Fee and Advisory Cost (US$34.9M), and Debt Political Risk Insurance (US$55.7M).
As it relates to the actual construction of the hydroelectric plant, the officials explained that of the US$519.6M in total Capital Expenditure, the plant is expected to cost US$314M, with the Transmission Line demanding some US$126M. The additional US$79M is for currency adjustments. Interest during the construction will amount to US$97.1M
The project will include a 270-km transmission line and new substations near Georgetown.

In 2002, Synergy Holdings headed by Makeswhar ‘Fip’ Motilall and Harza International were granted a licence by the Government of Guyana under the Hydro-Electricity Act for the development of a hydroelectric plant at Amaila Falls. The licence was reportedly amended and extended in 2004 when Harza pulled out, leaving Synergy as the sole licencee. The licence was again extended in 2006.
Synergy Holdings was later granted a US$15.4 million contract to build the access roads to the proposed site for the hydropower plant. This contract was terminated in January 2012 because of under-performance, but not before the licence for the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project was sold to Sithe Global for a substantial sum.