Minister of Works Philip Brave Davis said yesterday that electricity supplies across New Providence will not be compromised as a result of the upcoming International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Relays. Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) Executive Chairman Leslie Miller warned on Tuesday that consumers will likely face power cuts during the upcoming relays.

"First of all, the historic challenges that have attended the generation plants at Clifton and Blue Hills have caught up with us," said Davis outside the House of Assembly. We are now trying to address that as quickly as we can.

"The load shedding that is occurring now is as a result of that. The fact that the IAAF Relays are on this weekend will not in any way compromise the services to the whole island. Hopefully, if all things go well we might be able to not have to load shed as widespread as we have."

The relays, considered to be the grandest sporting event to ever be held in The Bahamas, will take place this weekend. Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr. Daniel Johnson also said in the House that "no blackouts" will happen during the relays.

"The Thomas Augustus Robinson stadium has four generators, 20,000 gallons of fuel and can actually run on its own for five days," he said. "Secondly, all of the systems are prepped and ready to go. It is not that they were not ready, but everything has been tested and we are beyond ready."

About 1,000 athletes, coaches and officials, along with 100 journalists from about 50 countries, are expected in town for the games. Thousands of customers in New Providence were left without power for hours on Monday as the corporation lost one of its 26.5 megawatt engines at the Clifton Pier Power Station.

BEC is expected to load shed until next week. BEC expects that the temporary generator units supplied by Aggreko will be installed and operational within the next four weeks. An initial five megawatts of Aggreko temporary units should be on island within the next few days, the corporation said.

Davis did not answer questions about the BEC reform process. The process, which has been delayed multiple times, has generated criticisms from many. Once the deal is struck, a management company will manage the corporation in much the same way Vancouver Airport Services Ltd. was hired to run Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA).

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