Friday January 19 2007
by Corliss Smithen
Cuban social workers will today begin trekking around to households on
the island to distribute thousands of energy-saving bulbs that have been
donated to St. Kitts.
Approximately 30 social workers from Cuba are in the country to execute
the energy-saving project, a collaborative effort of the government of
St. Kitts/Nevis and Cuba.
"The government of Cuba is donating almost 140,000 bulbs and we expect
to distribute these bulbs island wide. It's a project that will take us
somewhere between three to four weeks.
"My understanding is that you are full of energy and ready to work…I
want to welcome you to St. Kitts and my understanding is that the work
will start on Friday morning bright and early," said Minister of Public
Works, Utilities, Transport and Posts, Dr. Earl Asim Martin at a handing
over ceremony Wednesday at his offices.
Cuban Ambassador, Ana Maria Gonzalez presented Dr. Martin with a sample
of the energy-saving devices, which are said to utilise less energy to
provide the equivalent lighting as the regular incandescent bulbs,
allowing consumers to spend less on their electricity bills.
"I want to thank you Your Excellency for your hard work in this
particular area and the other areas that we are working in. I want to
thank you for recruiting the social workers in quick time and I would
wish that you would pass on these words of gratitude to your government
and people of Cuba."
Dr. Martin said the co-operation of everyone is vital to the success of
this energy-saving project, as savings generated through it will benefit
the entire country.
"The various communities on island will be informed via radio exactly
when and the hours of distribution in each community…There are some
communities that we probably will work in the day and there are some we
would probably have to work in the afternoon. We're starting Friday and
then we'll work on Saturday and Sunday," he said.
Government was forced to undertake the Energy Saving Project following
the increases in price for fuel on the world market and the resultant
rise in the price of petrol locally.
"When the investigations were done initially last March, there was a
projection of 23,594.4 KWH that would be saved and they indicated that
this would mean saving 1,363.23 gallons of diesel per day. This accounts
for a saving of $8,329.34 per day and $3,040,209.10 annually. That was
the initial calculation.
"Once we would have completed the project, we could compare the expected
results to the actual results, so after one month when we would have
completed, we would compare that month with the following month and see
what the savings are. We can even look on an average basis in terms of
savings for each household when we would have done a complete analysis,"
Martin said.
There are more than 15,000 households on St. Kitts, however, some
citizens are concerned that not everyone would benefit from the venture.
Meanwhile, residents in Nevis are also expected to profit from the
Energy Savings Project.
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