Progressive Liberal Party
February 1, 2011
The issue of the failure of BEC to provide uninterrupted power to Abaco has blown the cover in the faces of the Prime Minister, Jr. Minister Phenton Neymour and Minister Earl Deveaux. Despite the local press’s failure to carry the PLP’s press release on this matter Minister Earl Deveaux, after learning of the PLP’s press statement then rushed to Abaco to hold a town meeting which was poorly attended. Clearly Minister Deveaux was ill prepared to answer simple and straight forward questions raised by residents of Abaco.
As an example: Minister Earl Deveaux was unable to explain to Abaco residents why the installation of 11 miles of transmission lines was not completed to coincide with the completion of the new power station. In fact the Minister reluctantly admitted that the contract has not yet been awarded. Yet the minister again gave the residents the same assurance that Jr. Minister Phenton Neymour gave to them back in 2010 that there, would be no load shedding in Abaco.
The installation of the new power plant in Abaco is an example of the terrible fallout of the FNM’s Stop, Review and Cancel Policy. The victims of this wicked and spiteful policy now includes the people of Abaco. The dismal failure and mismanagement of this power plant will go down in history as a textbook case of how the FNM inflicted misery and punishment on the residents and tourist of the Abacos.
Below is a statement made by Prime Minister in July 2010 in the House of Assembly:
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Abaco said recently that there are no valid reasons why Abaco’s power supply has been off for the last several days and said someone “will pay” for their “neglect.”
“What is happening with the electricity supply in Abaco is inexcusable. I am not an engineer. I am the prime minister of The Bahamas, though. Some people will pay for that neglect in Abaco,” he said in the House of Assembly last week.
Mr. Ingraham said his government’s first priority will be to get power supplies restored.
He said the next order of business will be deciding who will be held responsible “for this grossly negligent act on the island of Abaco to permit engines to run out of fuel oil.”
“Everybody knows that an engine requires oil,” he said.
“And to have to hire a plane to fly oil to Abaco to put in the engines and to cause the people of Abaco to suffer as they have is something for which somebody or some people must be responsible. When we find out, which is not long from now, they will be dealt with.”
In has been six months since Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham promised that “some people will pay for that neglect in Abaco”. Thus far nobody has paid. And the people of Abaco continue to be besieged with promises by the Prime Minister, Earl Deveaux and Phenton Neymour. The reality is they are the ones responsible for the massive neglect and mismanagement of BEC in Abaco and they are the ones who should go.
I attended the press conference. Minister Earl Deveaux showed, in my opinion, a great deal of honesty in the situation. When asked why, when they knew the output power of Wilson City would far exceed the ability of the power lines to carry it, did BEC wait until now (and even not yet) to start the tender process, he replied that it was gross negligence and lack of planning on the part of BEC – they failed. Does that make it better – no. But hoesty is refreshing when everyone else is handing out excuses.
They have promised Abaconian’s an improbable completion date of May 15th to have the new power lines in place. However, that only eliminates a small part of the problem as there still needs to be an upgrade of transformers at the distribution point which are not yet even on the island.
The Wilson City and Marsh Harbour Plant will likely be run in parallel in order to handle the summer load. It remains to be seen how well that will work as they still are trying to correct some control issues.
As far as can be told, at this point in time the 2011 summer will be handled better than 2010. How much better won’t be known until summer is actually on us. However, that is when it is a little late to be tweaking and fixing problems while tourists leave!
Engr,Going into private hands is not the answer.Freport power is a private company and we dont have good service.We need to find the right people to run these company and stop the political interfernce.
Everything BEC touches crumble. The approach: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, is what plagues BEC. BEC should go into private hands. In a 21st century world, the least the cooperation could do is keep the power on, and obviously that is not happening.
Hubert is the piece of shit whose head should go. Remember what the prophet told king David? Thou art the man; carry your ass Hubert Ingraham.
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