A foreign company contracted to manage the New Providence landfill has said it will deny Stellar Waste to Energy Bahamas (SWTEB) access to the site. SWTEB stated yesterday that it intends to move ahead with engineering and design studies that would require it to access the landfill in order to proceed.
Renew Bahamas told Guardian Business that, under the terms of its agreement with the government, it is obligated to deny Stellar Waste to Energy Bahamas (SWTEB) entry onto the landfill.
Gerhard Beukes, president and CEO of Renew Bahamas, said: "We have a contract in place with the government that was duly approved by the appropriate channels in government, including Cabinet. Under the terms of our agreement, we are obliged to secure the Harrold Road landfill site and will not consider allowing any group access to conduct studies at the site at this time."
Beukes commented when contacted by Guardian Business regarding comments made by Chief Operating Officer (COO) of SWTEB J.P. Michelsen.
Michelsen said in an interview that SWTEB fully intends to press ahead with concluding front-end engineering and design studies called for in a controversial letter of intent (LOI) signed by SWTEB and Parliamentary Secretary Renward Wells, despite the prime minister and the deputy prime minister stating that Wells did not have authority to sign the LOI and denying that it would be binding on the government.
Breaking the company's silence since top government officials shot down the LOI's legitimacy, Michelsen said that he does not understand what all the "hoopla" over the LOI is about. He argued that the company only wishes to finance and conduct the studies so that it can put more information before the government, so the government can make an informed decision on whether to move ahead with a waste-to-energy plant at the site, which would be funded by the company.
The LOI does, however, provide for compensation to be paid to the company if the government does not proceed with establishing a power purchase agreement (PPA) with SWTEB under which the Bahamas Electricity Corporation will buy power from the waste-to-energy plant SWTEB wishes to develop. It adds that this compensation is "to be agreed upon".
Michelsen said that no agreement was ever reached in this regard.
Christie initially called for Wells to resign over the signing of the LOI, but has not made good on this call. He then said an investigation would be launched, but no outcome has yet been revealed.
Michelsen claimed on Tuesday that there is "plenty of conversation going on" between SWTEB and the government.
Renew Bahamas is financed by Aubaine Capital, a U.K.- based private equity firm which also has an interest in ITI Energy, a British company which manufactures a gasifier system which produces a synthetic gas from garbage that can be used to generate electricity. Beukes is the managing director of Aubaine Capital and the chairman of the British Colonial Hilton.

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