Chairman of local oil and gas supplier FOCOL Sir Franklyn Wilson told Guardian Business yesterday that FOCOL is not focused on the “here and now issues” facing Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), but is carrying out long-range planning based on the changes in the energy sector globally.

FOCOL provides lubricating oil for BPL’s engines.

Wilson explained that as BPL moves into its new stages of power generation with new engines and new fuel in the next two years, FOCOL will continue to adjust its business to conform to the changing times.

“The best we could say is it is clear that even without the particular challenges BPL is facing, the energy sector is going through very considerable change, so those are the lenses through which we are looking at it,” said Wilson.

Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar said yesterday that he is optimistic repairs to the runway and taxiway at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) will be completed in time for the busy Thanksgiving season.

Bahamas Hot Mix Company Ltd. (BHM) began work on the repairs, priced at $20 million, in June.

“We’re hoping that it’s completed before Thanksgiving. I mean obviously the Lynden Pindling airport is operating on a single runway and there is no redundancy in place right now. We have in place the necessary infrastructure and equipment to make sure that should an incident happen on the runway we can clear it and get it back in operation as quickly as possible. As you would have seen, I believe it was last week, there was an incident and within 90 minutes the plane was removed and the airport was back in operation,” D’Aguilar told reporters before the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Churchill Building yesterday.

As New Providence’s energy crisis continues to wreak havoc on lives and businesses, Perspective followed up on power generation concerns on the islands of Bimini, Abaco and Grand Bahama to find out how service providers have managed challenges and how residents are coping with blackouts as they occur.

In May, a fire at Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) power station on Bimini caused an immediate island-wide outage that, though subsequently restored, has been followed with blackouts.

When questioned recently by Perspective on the status of power generation on Bimini, BPL Director of Public Relations Quincy Parker advised that “with the addition of four megawatts of power from rented Aggrekos, BPL Bimini has about 6.5 megawatts, with a present demand of 5.6 megawatts.”

Atlantis’ Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Ed Fields said yesterday that even though the resort has been able to schedule some of its outages and utilize its generators to offset Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) constant load shedding, the resort has to be cautious not to damage its generators.

“Like everyone else, we’re not thrilled with the situation, but we have been working with BPL to come off the grid so that they can lend more capacity to the residential component and to the rest of the island,” Fields told The Nassau Guardian.

“So, we have been scheduling when we come off and go onto our generators.