President Irfaan Ali says the construction of the Gas to Energy project transcends the provision of energy and is linked to enormous benefits for all Guyanese.
The Head of State made this disclosure on Thursday as he provided an outline of the project in the presence of representatives from the oil companies (ExxonMobil, HESS and CNOOC), the local private sector, and Cabinet members at State House.
“This is a project that is national and transformational in nature, one that cuts across varied sectors. It is directly linked to poverty reduction, opening up of opportunities, the creation of new growth poles and growth hubs. It is one of those projects that bring direct benefits to the pockets of people.”
The benefits of this project, he added, are not only about electricity and the cost of electricity, but rather it is a transformational project that is directly linked to all the other sectors. The President said too that the country could save billions of dollars per month from electricity costs and the cost of cooking gas.
Through the project, there will be the establishment of a gas-processing plant (GPP) and a natural gas liquids (NGL) facility, which will be capable of producing at least 4,000 barrels per day, including the fractionation (or separating out) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Approximately 220,000 households are currently on the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) grid; and with the power company earning almost $40bn in revenue, the establishment of the project would cut revenue in half, returning approximately $20bn into the pockets of Guyanese.
“That is $20bn of revenue that will be freed up and made available to be spent on the economy, and expand the acquisition of goods and services.”
TRANSFORMATIONAL AGENDA
President Ali further explained that the project will fit nicely into the seven-pillar transformational agenda on which the Government has embarked. These include; infrastructure, technology, services (health, education, economic), energy security, food security and mental transformation.
Regarding mental transformation, President Ali pointed to its importance. He said that “we need to have a mental transformation in our society because the scale of what we’re doing is completely different from the way we think. From a business operational perspective, the scale is different from what we have imagined. The mental transformation talks about critical thinking.”
This “mindset change” he emphasised requires all to understand the developmental agenda in order to achieve the best outcomes.
MANIFESTO COMMITMENTS DELIVERED
The President explained that through the project, the Government will fulfil several manifesto commitments under energy, including; the provision of affordable, stable, reliable energy, a mix of energy sources, an increase of electricity production to 400 MW and the reduction of the cost of energy to consumers.
“In terms of the manifesto, we have passed the test of soundness.”
