The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis was critical yesterday of the Free National Movement’s intention to privatise Bahamas Power & Light, likening it to the party’s controversial decision to sell the Bahamas Telecommunications Company during the Ingraham administration.

In its recently released party platform, the FNM said it would privatise BPL and ensure that the utility provider is owned by Bahamians through majority shareholding.

Reacting yesterday, Mr Davis, the minister of works, said: “That’s their mantra. They don’t take on challenges. They try to divest themselves of challenges. I’d just trust that the Bahamian people recall that they divested themselves of BTC and look at the process that they did it, it went for a song and a dance.

“We don’t believe in divesting ourselves of our national assists particularly because it’s a strategic necessity to our well-being. We need to have some input with respect to something so important.”

The Christie administration has repeatedly criticised the 2011 sale of BTC as a “give away.” Last November, the government moved a resolution in Parliament to establish a select committee to probe the sale of BTC to Cable & Wireless Communications.

The Ingraham administration sold a 51 per cent stake of BTC to CWC for $210m in 2011. After the Christie administration assumed office in 2012, the Progressive Liberal Party negotiated to have two per cent of CWC’s shares placed into a foundation.

Nonetheless, privatising the former Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC), now rebranded as BPL, has long been a part of the FNM’s agenda.

As former State Minister for Environment Phenton Neymour said in 2008: “We recognise that there are a number of initiatives that are necessary at BEC, and we feel that it may be best for the Bahamas that we look at BEC, look at what is demanded of it, look at what the Bahamian people require, and see how best we can deliver that. It would, in our opinion, require private sector involvement.”

Last year, the government entered into a management services agreement with PowerSecure to manage BPL for five years.

Among other things, the purpose of the partnership was to reduce costs for customers and improve the reliability of the company. A rate reduction bond was also intended to replace the company’s legacy debt, enabling investments in infrastructure.

So far, however, the company has continued to be plagued by the problems that have drawn strong criticism over the years.