$8.6M US contract signed to build National Control Centre for Gas-to-Energy project

The last phase of the Gas-to-Energy project is moving apace as a new $8.6 Million US contract was signed between the Government of Guyana and a Chinese company known as Power China to construct a building to house the National Control Centre.

Power China was one of the competitive bidders among three other companies shortlisted during the open tender process.

The building will be constructed in Beterverwagting along the East Coast of Demerara. The project has a 13-month duration.

During the signing ceremony on Tuesday in the boardroom of the Office of the Prime Minister at Camp Street, Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips noted the role the building will play in the delivery of power from the Gas-to-Energy project.

“This is important for the whole management of the transmission and distribution of the power that will be evacuated from the Gas-to-Energy project. So, the people of Guyana, come 2025 will benefit from adequate electricity,” the prime minister stated.

He added that the project will allow the government to deliver on its promise of easing the cost of living for citizens across the country.

“The power from the Gas-to-Energy project would be reliable. And as such, the cost will go down. We promised the people that we would reduce the cost of electricity by 50 per cent and we will deliver on that promise,” Prime Minister Phillips recounted.

Additionally, the Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar explained that the nearly US $2 billion gas project has several components being done simultaneously. 

These include the installation of deep-water pipelines, shallow-water pipelines, and underground pipelines, the building of the Materials Offloading Facility in Wales, West Bank Demerara, the construction of access roads and the power plant and the installation of transmission lines that will transfer the electricity to the control centre.

The 230 KV transmission lines are currently being installed by Kalapataru Projects International Limited (KPIL).

“Today, what we have done is to sign the last aspect of the entire leg of projects surrounding the Gas-to-Energy project…we have [KPIL] who is building the 230KV transmission line to bring it to Vreed-en-Hoop Sub-station and to bring it to Beterverwagting located behind Eccles…That there is now where this contract kicks in where we have the control centre building,” Minister Indar explained.

The minister said that a temporary building is expected to be constructed to ensure the timeline is met.

“So, we will have to build a temporary one to make sure that we don’t miss the opportunity to dispatch once the power plant commences its operations. Around December of this year that should be completed,” the minister disclosed.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Executive Management Committee of the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL), Kesh Nandlall said that the building will play a key part in the execution of the services of the GPL.

It will aid in the agency managing the power grids in a very efficient manner. “It is intended to house the scanning equipment. It is a very important infrastructure for the development of the power sector going forward since it would be housing the brainchild of the grid,” Nandlall stated.