The opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has welcomed the decision of the Government of Jamaica to grant a licence to Energy World International (EWI) for the establishment of a new power plant.
The 381 megawatt plant will supply liquified natural gas (LNG) to the Jamaica Public Service Company, which operates the national electricity grid.
Energy needs
Karl Samuda, Opposition Spokesman on Energy, is fully supportive of the move, in light of the country's current energy needs.
"I'm very optimistic about getting gas in here at 12.88 cents per kilowatt hour," Samuda told RJR News.
Describing the increased electricity rates being requested by the JPS as "madness", Samuda said that "it's imperative that we act very quickly as a nation if we're going to address the needs of the productive sector and the consuming public."
Announcement
Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell made the announcement on Tuesday that the long anticipated licence had been signed and issued to EWI, after changes were made to the original document.
"They now have the power to establish this 381 megawatt electricity plant, using natural gas," Paulwell told RJR News on Tuesday afternoon.
He confirmed that the gas will be imported in a liquified form "and there will be a re-gassification facilit,y established on land, and the plant will be up and running in 26 months."
With the licence now issued, Energy World must pay its performance bond of US$35 million by next Thursday and start construction within the next 3 months.
The Government will be "committing to assisting the process to ensure that there will be no undue delays in the grant of approvals," Paulwell said.
While stressing that EWI will still be required to abide by all conditions established by the country's regulatory system, he asserted that the government was committed "to ensure that these approvals are granted within that 90 day period and all the agencies are fully on board to support this as one of our strategic projects, going forward."
EMC
On the weekend, news had emerged that Paulwell was about to announce the disbanding of the private sector led Energy Monitoring Committee (EMC), which had been set up to monitor the establishment of the new LNG plant.
This was strongly denied by Paulwell, who told RJR News last night that he will meet with the EMC shortly to provide an update on the licence and the changes that were made before making the document public.
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