Dominican Republic-based company to supervise major GPL works; no job losses- officials

Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 July 2025, 21:54 by Writer

The government has decided to hire the Dominican Republic-based InterEnergy to supervise the installation of a new system for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to distribute power from the 300 megawatt Wales natural gas-fired power plant that’s expected to be finished by mid-2026.

Public Works Minister Deodat Indar and GPL Chief Executive Officer Kesh Nandlall on Tuesday emphasised that workers at the state-owned power company would not be laid off. “They’re not displacing any employees so let us understand that very clearly,” Mr Nandlall said. He also said that Guyanese workers would be working alongside their counterparts from InterEnergy.

Mr Indar said Guyana does not have the skills to supervise such a massive project that would see the installation of more than 300 kilometres of 230 kV and 69 kV transmission lines, construction of five new substations, the upgrade of another and the building of medium voltage circuits to the tune of US$422 million. “You can’t get these skills locally. When you have this kind of level of investment in terms of the quality assurance when you’re building out, you want to ensure that it is done properly,” he said. Contracts for those works were awarded earlier this year to Power China and the Indian firm, Kalpataru.

Mr Nandlall said InterEnergy would also be tasked with assessing the existing power grid with a view of developing a “smart grid” to ensure that GPL delivers a high quality of service. “Part of this engagement is for them to look at the grid overall and see that they are seamlessly integrating this grid,” he said. He added that the Dominican Republic company would also assist GPL in reviewing the natural gas-fired plants and the “best way” to deal with the fossil fuel generated plants. “All these things are supervisory. They’re not operational. We have our people already,” he said.

The Public Works Minister indicated that the sole sourced selection of InterEnergy, which was approved last month by the Cabinet, was expected to be better than a competitive bidding process for this type of work. “If we had to go out to public tender, you would have seen a different story,” when asked whether the already subsidised GPL would be getting value for money from the US$650,000 per month deal. The Minister said the Guyana government would be relying heavily on InterEnergy’s wide-ranging experience and expertise with power systems, as Guyana does not have the capacity to do that kind of work.

The GPL Chief Executive Officer said InterEnergy and the power company could complete contract negotiations by the end of August, 2025. “There’s a proposal and we are negotiating on that proposal,” he said.

InterEnergy and GPL signed a memorandum of understanding in early 2024.

Despite the impending hiring of InterEnergy, he said electricity tariffs would not be increased and so government would be sticking with its promise to cut the rates by 50 percent.