Dom Rep power company made cheapest offer for GPL’s massive project supervision

Last Updated on Thursday, 31 July 2025, 23:43 by Writer

Amid opposition criticism of government’s handpicking of InterEnergy Group to supervise the US$422 million expansion of Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) transmission and distribution network, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that Dominican Republic-based company provided the best deal.

“I think they had several proposals from different groups that they considered so that was it and this one was the most cost-effective one,” he told Demerara Waves when asked why government opted to sole source the contract. He said the agreement, which is still being negotiated, would see InterEnergy providing its services at “significantly lower” than the 5 percent to 8 percent of the contract price.

“When you look at the cost compared to other supervision cost, based on scale of the civil works contract, you can see it’s a small amount,” he added.

The ministerial Cabinet last month approved the payment of US$650,000 monthly to InterEnergy Group. GPL Chief Executive Officer, Kesh Nandlall earlier this week said that company, which works in several Latin American countries, would be supervising the installation of transmission cables and substations to take and distribute electricity from the 300 megawatt natural gas-fired power plant at Wales, develop a smart grid to ensure greater efficiency, and assess future use of fossil fuel generators.

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) vice presidential candidate, Ganesh Mahipaul has heaped criticism on government’s decision to sole-source the contract rather than open it up to competitive bidding through the procurement system.

Noting that GPL and InterEnergy had inked a memorandum of understanding since 2024, Mr Jagdeo refuted Mr Mahipaul’s assertion that a secret deal had been struck. “It was not secretly done. You can’t secretly hire somebody as Mahipaul has been pushing. They are trying to resurrect this thing about corruption,” he said. Mr Mahipaul also questioned InterEnergy’s track record on improving electricity outside the Dominican Republic.

Guyana and the Dominican Republic are enjoying very close relations. That Caribbean nation’s President, Luis Abinader has visited Guyana several times.