Following a signing ceremony and the handing over of two projects to the Guyanese Government from Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA), it is expected that the country- more specifically, those in Georgetown- will soon benefit from improved energy efficiency, and fewer power outages.
At a value of Japanese Yen 1,848,000,000 or the equivalent of US$17,812,237, the project on the introduction of renewable energy aims at improving the efficiency of the power system in the City of Georgetown and the surrounding areas by enhancing substation and distribution equipment, as well as establishing a PV system and an energy management system at the CARICOM Secretariat.
In his address to a gathering which included Minister within the Ministry of Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, Mitsuhiko Okada, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of Guyana, Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan, the Deputy Secretary General of CARICOM and distinguished members of the Japanese delegation, among others, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge welcomed the contribution.
“I am extremely heartened by the timeliness of the Government of Japan’s contribution in the area of renewable energy because such assistance accords well with Guyana’s development trajectory which is of course towards becoming a Green Economy,” he said, while noting that both projects- “Introduction of Renewable Energy and the Improvement of Power System” and the “Procurement of the Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) street lamps”- will contribute significantly to our country’s Green State Initiative.
During the signing ceremony, Japan also donated 4716 LED street lamps from a total of 10,865 to the Public Infrastructure Ministry worth US$1.3M.
It was disclosed that the LED street lamps will be used for the replacement of the current street lights in selected areas and aid in the improvement of the Government’s energy initiative.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) Albert Gordon told the media at the signing that he is confident that the new system will help GPL to reduce the frequent outages.
Guyana formally established diplomatic relations with Japan in 1967.
Since then, both countries have collaborated on many issues of mutual interest, at the bilateral and multilateral levels.
At the bilateral level, relations have been built essentially around the socioeconomic development of the country and Guyana has been one of the main recipients of Japanese assistance in the English speaking Caribbean region.
This assistance includes important projects such as the Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP), Non-Project Grant Aid, Technical Cooperation Programmes (Technical Training, Technical Projects, and the Dispatch of Japanese expertise/volunteers in a variety of areas), amongst others.
