Christie 'deeply concerned' about BEC

Wed, Mar 18th 2015, 11:28 PM

Despite the Bahamas Electricity Corporation's (BEC) plans to increase power generation, Prime Minister Perry Christie admitted yesterday he is "deeply concerned" about the corporation experiencing an "entire collapse of the grid".

Christie was responding to questions from reporters about BEC's reform process and when an announcement will be made.

It has been two weeks since the prime minister acknowledged the "ball is in my court".

"With respect to moving forward, the government of The Bahamas will be shortly in a position to receive -- they have had an oral submission from me -- the recommendation that I have made as a follow-up to the recommendation of the taskforce," Christie said.

"And obviously, I would want to talk to the trade union representatives [and] to the management representatives moving forward on these matters."

He added, "The fact of the matter is recommendations are being made to the government. I have finished my process."

Christie also said Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis' statement that the recent power outages exposed a "crisis in leadership" borders on idiotic.

He challenged Minnis to address him in the House of Assembly.

"I wish he would give me an opportunity to hear him say it in Parliament when I could respond immediately to him," he said.

"But these sort of backdoor comments about [being] visionless; that is just political rhetoric bordering on the idiotic at times.

"...With respect to BEC, it is clear, I think, how this happened. We have a continuing problem at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation.

"I am deeply concerned, not just about that, [but] obviously we must move immediately to put into effect efforts to prevent an entire collapse of the grid".

Christie pointed out that there will be increased demand for power with developments like Baha Mar, a more than 2,000-room mega resort opening on March 27.

He said BEC has a lot of work to do.

The corporation has been heavily criticized following its most recent island-wide outage on Friday.

Power outages were reported in several communities of New Providence up to yesterday.

Much like Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis, Christie applauded BEC workers for restoring power in the timeframe they did on the weekend.

"What I thought came out of this was, however it happened, and even if it was negligence, what I found remarkable was the response of the BEC team in being able to get that back up, and getting people connected very effectively in a short period of time," he said.

"When you look at what happens ... in the United States of America and the time it takes them to get their grids back up, I think we have to applaud the persons who work for BEC and how they were able to respond to the crisis."

BEC chairman/union row

Bahamas Electrical Workers Union President Paul Maynard said on Monday the union will not support the reform process unless BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller is fired for claiming employees' negligence ultimately caused Friday's meltdown.

Miller has since withdrawn that claim.

Asked about the union's stance, Christie said Miller's position is not a matter that comes before the union president.

"Paul Maynard knows the prime minister of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas will govern The Commonwealth of The Bahamas in the best interest of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, and that includes who is the chair of BEC," he said.

"That is not a union moment. That is not a union requirement to be a participant in who is made chair.

"That is the government's responsibility and the government has to bear the consequences of its decision."

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

 Sponsored Ads