The Tribune

By LARRY SMITH

Faced by another toxic fire at the Harrold Road dump as a general election nears, the government has swung into action with an express ‘request for proposals’ (RFP) to fix the problem.

The original dump was transformed into a sanitary landfill in the late 90s, with financing and guidance from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). But equipment and management failures over time spawned an environmental disaster, surrounded by housing estates.

As well as failing to implement and sustain the IDB’s fully funded plans, successive governments have routinely ignored numerous integrated waste management proposals from Bahamian and foreign experts over the past 20-odd years.

Now, in a rush to impress voters, bids have been requested for the “remediation and management” of the dump. The request was issued on April 10 and proposals must be submitted by today - an unheard of time-frame for such a big project.

It is understood that bids are being submitted, but for some strange reason the government has sought to keep all details under a cloak of secrecy. Bidders are under a gag order not to talk to the press.

And no information on the terms and conditions is provided in the RFP notice other than the basic requirements - a $10,000 non-refundable fee and a signed non-disclosure agreement.

Normally, a non-disclosure agreement seeks to protect proprietary information provided by bidders. British procurement law, for example, requires contracting parties to protect elements of tenders which bidders have “reasonably designated” as confidential.

But keeping a lid on the actual terms of reference for a public project is inexplicable. It should be obvious to everyone that transparency is indispensable for a sound public procurement process - to everyone but our cabinet ministers, that is.

Details of the government’s previous failed effort to fix the dump (when Renew Bahamas was given a contract in 2013 outside an existing RFP process) were also kept secret, despite numerous public demands over several years. Renew walked off the job last year and we are still no wiser about the terms of their contract.

I daresay that disclosing the terms for managing a public dump would not qualify for a top-secret classification anywhere but in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

Update on solar

In December, this column revealed that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) was working with Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) to set up a licensing and regulatory system for renewable energy.

This comes right at the end of the government’s term - meaning that another five years has gone by without any appreciable progress on fossil fuel reduction, energy efficiency or the use of renewables.

Renewable energy provisions in the 2015 Electricity Act cover self-generation by homes and businesses (using solar panels or wind turbines, for example) together with grid interconnection and utility billing credits (known as net metering).

The law also provides for utility-scale renewable energy generation, based on power purchase agreements to be negotiated between BPL and third party providers.

But everything has been on hold, ostensibly until URCA, BPL and the Ministry of Works (MOW) sort things out. In fact, progress has been continuously delayed and obstructed - despite the fact that solar in particular is a mature and cost-effective technology with many benefits for the environment and the economy.

In spite of all this stonewalling, there are already hundreds of residential and small business solar photovoltaic installations around the country - including those operated by cabinet ministers. But less costly grid-tied facilities (which don’t require batteries) and net metering were not allowed until recently.

As I reported, URCA’s preliminary consultation document in December called for publication of a final document in January followed by a period of public consultation ending on March 31. A final document was never published and it is unclear whether any submissions were received in response to the public consultation.

But BPL launched its small-scale self-generation programme a month ago without any fanfare (the details can be found on its website). And according to URCA’s newly appointed director for the electricity sector - ex-BEC manager Shevonn Cambridge - the details are still being finalised.

“The relevant agencies (URCA, MOW and BPL) are working to finalise the safety, technical and commercial terms,” he told me. “At this stage it is considered to be in a beta-testing mode, with wide-scale publication projected to commence in mid-May.”

Why a technology that has been in use for over three decades around the world needs beta testing here is beyond me - as well as most experts I talk to. It is even more inexplicable when we consider that BPL is managed by Southern Power, which has years of experience installing megawatt solar plants in the US.

And the bad news is that the owners of all currently inspected and installed renewable systems will now have to get one of the few local three-phase electricians to sign off on another application and then go through another lengthy inspection process to be compliant with the new regulations.

This is primarily for safety reasons, and secondarily for records management with regard to the component of the national energy demand being met by renewables, Cambridge said. “The inspection of off-grid systems will be facilitated by URCA and the Ministry of Works where applicable.”

Existing systems were inspected according to the 2015 Canadian Electrical Code, which is applied in the Bahamas. And since all solar systems were inspected by current Ministry of Works electrical inspectors, what could possibly have changed to require new inspections (other than for record-keeping)? This will only create a bureaucratic bottleneck for the renewables sector.

Asked how long the inspection process can be expected to take, Cambridge was philosophical: “The maximum time frame should not be more than two months from receipt of a properly completed application. It should be noted, however, that due to the volume anticipated within the initial period, this time frame may be exceeded. URCA will closely monitor progress to ensure that applications are processed as quickly as possible.”

The good news is that there is finally - after more than a decade of shuffling and jiving - an official regime for small-scale generation of renewable energy in The Bahamas.

But according to Cambridge, URCA’s review of BPL’s Utility Scale Renewable Energy plan is still underway and won’t be completed until late this year. Then the regulations will have to be brought into force, followed by a procurement process.

So we are likely to be approaching 2020 before anything concrete can happen at this level - hardly acceptable for an island nation touted as a “world leader” in sustainable energy.

The Government and

freedom of information

Official stonewalling is not confined to the renewable energy sector. Both the Ingraham and Christie administrations enacted freedom of information laws at the end of their respective terms, but neither have been brought into force.

The cabinet minister responsible for the latest Freedom of Information Act - Jerome Fitzgerald - has said he expects to appoint an Information Commissioner soon. But most experts familiar with the law say the appointment process is seriously flawed.

It stands to reason that the Information Commissioner should be appointed by an independent process, such as the Judicial Services Committee or a parliamentary select committee, with representation from the Opposition.

Additionally, civil society representatives should be included in the decision-making process - either though membership on the select committee or by the publication of a shortlist of candidates for public feedback.

If the current provisions are brought into force, the Information Commissioner will be a creature of the government, and so will be unlikely to make decisions that are not agreeable to the political directorate.

• What do you think? Send comments to lsmith@tribunemedia.net or visit www.bahamapundit.com.