‘IMMEDIATE DANGER’ as 69,000 Volts hang over the heads of women and children in Plastic City

A wood ants invested pole on which three of GPL’s 69KV cables are running

The Guyana Power and Light has shifted ongoing works in a number of areas across West Demerara in and are now focusing time, human and other resources as well as moving to engage a number of agencies in order to avert what could be a catastrophic humanitarian crises in Plastic City.

On Saturday, it was discovered that close to one hundred persons including women and children are living right below and within the running path of the power company’s 69KV lines. The 69KV lines are power cables which carries the highest voltage of electricity that GPL moves from one location to another through its sub and power stations. Where the residents are living, there are three of those lines, which carries a total of 69,000 volts

The three lower cables are the ones which each has 69,000 volts and runs just above where residents are living

The lines are similar to those which are running along the Lamaha reserve where a hundreds of squatters were required to remove from a few years ago to facilitate the erecting of the pole for those lines and the subsequent running of the lines and their ultimate energizing.

At Plastic City, the issue is also compounded by persons building their squatting shacks along the reserve making it impossible for GPL’s emergency and maintenance crews to access the poles which carry these the 69KV lines.

On Saturday during an impromptu visit to check on other matters in the community, the Chief Executive Officer himself Albert Gordon made reference to the immediate danger of even having persons living under or in close proximity of the wires and the poles which carry them.

GPL’s CEO Albert Gordon (in white jersey) and Divisional Director Bharat Harjohn chats with a technical staff who was summoned to to location

He then moved closer to one of the poles and found that is rotten at the top and that the pole can break at any point, sending all three of the wire down to the ground, with an end result he stressed would be something no one would ever want to hear about.

At that point crews which were working in other parts of the West Demerara were summoned to the area and it was there that the CEO learn that the teams were not being able to properly access the area to do maintenance on the poles.

He has since ordered the immediate replacement of the poles which he felt were at risk of contributing to the high tension wire one day connecting to the ground.

Albert Gordon was asked by BIG Smith Crime Watch to comment on the observation

The first priority is with regards to safety you have people living under the 69,000 volt lines which is very dangerous and so we need to have some arrangements made to relocated, guess we will have to discuss that with the government secondly obviously because of inability to access the poles which carries the lines, maintenance crews were unable to readily access them and now we have found that those poles are in sire need of replacement and that will mean removing some of the structure under the lines. This is immediate danger” the CEO concluded.

Also speaking with BIG Smith Crime Watch was divisional Operations Director Bharat Harjohn, he said that the power company is very concerned that should there be any instance of natural disaster or a high winds that affects the integrity of the pole or even cause the wires to be burst, many lives would be lost.

He stressed that there would be some immediate works undertaken to address the rotten poles but that will cause some amount of power outage to resident along the coast but it is necessary as this now a matter of life and death that are dealing with.

He said that the machines which are usually used to meet to the length of those poles cannot get into the area because of how the persons have built.

“Because of the mostly wooded homes which are here we have the issue of wood ants from the homes going onto the guy-wires and into the poles so although we have treated the poles, the wood ants continue to affect them because the wooded structures and home are still there” Harjohn explained.

He assured that works would commence early today Monday to have the poles remain in the interim.

The power company is also moving to erect some safety signs and to also caution persons of the dangers associated with what is above them and the fact that are living in that community.

We were told that many of the person who are living the path of the 69KV lines have houses and lands in other parts of the country but they have been reluctant to move from the e have either secured household or are waiting for their names to be called.