REP to Complete UERP this Financial Year

During this financial year, the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) will, among other things, seek to complete the Urban Electrification Regularization Programme (UERP); construct 87 kilometres of distribution lines, and wire 720 houses under Revolving Fund ‘P’.
As outlined in a Ministry Paper tabled in the House of Representatives on June 6 by Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Phillip Paulwell, the proposed targets for the REP also include the wiring of 1,000 houses under Revolving Fund ‘R’; the pursuance of private projects and the securing of funds under the Bandes Agreement for a US$9.4 million project.
“The revised estimate for financial year 2006/07 was $86.366 million. The budget for the 2007/08 financial year is $70 million. However, a loan of US$9.4 million is being pursued. Should this loan materialize, the REP would have adequate funds,” the document states.
For the last financial year, the REP completed 40 per cent of construction at Bourkesfield under its private projects portfolio, and for the Office of National Reconstruction (ONR), completed construction and certification at Portland Cottage, Brighton, and Rocky Point.
Meanwhile, under its National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) projects, a contract was awarded for Vaughnsfield, while Belle Air was 40 per cent completed. The REP also completed and certified 334 houses under the UERP.
Incorporated in 1975, the mandate of the REP is to contribute to the economic growth and development of the country by providing affordable access to electricity islandwide and regularizing urban electrification.
Specifically, the REP constructs electrical distribution pole lines in non-electrified areas and provides house wiring assistance through affordable loan programmes to householders, who are given access to electricity service from newly erected electricity lines.
Additionally, the REP offers house-wiring assistance to needy householders in already electrified areas through a Revolving Fund Programme. In 2003, its mandate was broadened to incorporate the UERP, in an effort to minimize unauthorized connections and reduce the risk of fires and injuries to persons and property.