The Tribune

By SYANN THOMPSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

sthompson@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Hubert Minnis said yesterday his administration can no longer make short-term decisions as it relates to “cash-strapped” and “burdensome” Bahamas Power and Light.

Yesterday in his contribution to the Electricity Rate Reduction Bond Bill in the House of Assembly, Dr Minnis said that the government had to face the harsh realities of BPL’s debt. “The government of The Bahamas had to step in, to back BPL’s debt. Cash-strapped and burdened with debt; the structure of the energy supplier is woefully inadequate for it to make the necessary long-term investments to purchase and to maintain the equipment and resources to provide quality, sustainable service,” Dr Minnis said.

BPL’s load-shedding during the summer and into the fall was considered one of the worst New Providence has seen in recent memory. Dr Minnis said that it is this lack of consistent generation of electricity that has been one of the most vexing issues frustrating Bahamians and due to this, the government had to make difficult decisions.

“Fixing BPL’s problems comes at a cost. There is no magic formula to buying hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment. You have to pay for it. To keep the lights on and to have stable service now and in the future requires investment,” he said.

“What we witnessed this summer was a symptom and a poor legacy of a collapse that started at BPL many, many years ago. My government made a decision to stop making any more short-term decisions when it came to BPL, and to energy generation and distribution in our country.”

The Killarney MP said it is no secret that BPL’s infrastructure is inadequate, and that its aging machinery has continuously caused financial strain, highlighting that the equipment and financial woes go hand in hand, making it necessary for BPL to upgrade.

“At BPL, old machines and inadequate electricity supply have led to many, many additional costs. We have spent many millions as a country, renting generators over the years because our supply could not meet the demand. Instead of fixing BPL, the country just kept renting more generators. It was like putting Band-Aids on an injury that needed radical surgery and a permanent fix. Along with this equipment crisis at BPL has been its financial crisis,” said Mr Minnis.

As he seconded the bill, Dr Minnis accused the Progressive Liberal Party of kicking the can down the road when it came to major issues and said his administration was forced to do the heavy lifting to address the problems.

“The problems we inherited at BPL were similar to those we inherited at the New Providence Landfill,” Dr Minnis said. “When we came to office, landfill fires were at a crisis level. They could not fix the problem. They did not fix the problem.

“Talk and inaction are what they are about. On coming to office we created a plan. We executed the plan. The landfill is now on the way to being transformed. The same thing is happening with BPL. Within this single term in office we are fixing the landfill and BPL, something the PLP utterly failed to do under two Christie administrations.”

Officials have said BPL’s new $95m Wärtsilä power plant will be complete by December.