By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Perry Christie says it is still too early to say if there is a frontrunner in the bid to privatise the Bahamas Electricity Corporation.
Claiming he was unsure of the details surrounding the bidding process, Mr Christie said he does know there have been a significant number of applications. He said those interested have until tomorrow to apply.
Asked if the Genting Group has emerged as at the head of the pack, the Prime Minister replied: “No, you will have to speak to KPMG because it is being governed now by that accounting firm.” Officials at KPMG could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The privatisation of BEC has sparked much debate since it was announced in August. The FNM has questioned whether special interests are driving the move, with party chairman Darron Cash claiming the speed of the transition indicates “the fix is in and the deal has already been made.”
He said: “Under ordinary circumstances, an interested team of serious, respectable persons would take at least a year to prepare credible proposals for the government. Such an extremely tight time-line clearly disqualifies any new Bahamian group that has not already been on the inside and knew that this deal was coming.”
Comments
Reality_Check 10 years, 7 months ago
All of the proposals thus far put to Government are quite glaring in terms of the greed of the investors behind them as evidenced by their keen desire not to acquire BEC through a Government supported privatization initiative. The investors behind each of the proposals received to date would love a "sweet profiteering" arrangement that leaves BEC and Bahamian taxpayers on the hook for the high cost of the country's electrical transmission and distribution system (covering many islands), BEC's unfunded pension liabilities, etc. etc. The eventual outcome of putting only the electrical generating plants in the hands of these investors, with a "sweet deal" contract on the back of an already financially troubled BEC, is all too obvious: BEC would soon go belly-up leaving Bahamian taxpayers saddled with funding its unsettled liabilities, and the less costly parts of its electrical transmission and distribution system would be picked up at a fire sale price by the private power plant owners. Rumour has it there are confidential internal emails from the PM’s Office floating around that show Christie has already approved a “sweet monopoly deal” for his favoured cronies to supply electrical generating capacity to BEC.
There is also the problem of the assumptions behind KPMG’s “split” model being fundamentally flawed in many respects. Just look at the arrangement between Water & Sewerage Corp and Consolidated Water; this is a classic example of why these types of deals fail.
The_Oracle 10 years, 7 months ago
For Gods Sake, DO NOT follow the Grand Bahama Power Company/Emera example, where Emera is guaranteed a minimum 10% return on investment, and excludes the private sector from Alternate energy! While Emera is trying to break the union by separating the Generation side from the Transmission/distribution side, the rates are still $0.38+ /Kwh with very dirty line quality, as bad as if not worse than BEC.
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