CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited (CPGL) said it recently donated a complete solar lighting community system to Moraikobai, the only indigenous village in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Guyana. In all, 130 lights were given to the community along with eight flood lights for a playfield.
The CNOOC subsidiary said this was done with support from POWERCHINA, one of the world’s largest power construction enterprises.
A core team from CPGL and engineers from Power China had visited Moraikobai in November to supervise the installation of 116 solar lights around the community. Residents were trained to safely fix and maintain the lights with tools and other equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE) donated to the village for this purpose. The wood for the poles was also sourced from Moraikobai, a community heavily involved in logging.
President of CPGL, Liu Xiaoxiang, has noted that the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects the company undertakes are designed for success and sustainability.
“We are interested in working together with communities to help them develop their own capacity. We wish to give them a level of capability that would enable them to develop themselves. In the words of Confucius, we are interested in teaching people to fish, not to give them fish,” said Xiaoxiang.
Toshao Derrick John shared that the solar light community project is Moraikobai’s second project with the Chinese oil company, citing a previous donation of beds to the Mahaicony Amerindian Hostel in September 2022.
Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Guo Haiyan, who was present for the commissioning last Saturday said the project is a good example of Chinese companies’ commitment and sense of responsibility.
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, and officials from the Ministry of Education and Region Five, were in attendance.
To date, CPGL has planned and implemented more than 30 projects across six regions in Guyana. Together with ExxonMobil and Hess Corporation, CPGL is part of the Greater Guyana Initiative, which is providing GYD$20 billion for capacity development programmes across Guyana over the next 10 years.
