Original license and revised license that was issued to EWI – updated

The OUR has produced the revised license that was issued to EWI. We now have a copy of the new document see below.

Here is a copy of the new document

amended_and_restated_energy_world_international_limited

 

This is the original license

ewi_supply_of_electricity_licence_2014

 

 

Jamaica is the 5th most miserable country on the planet

We seem to be creating records in all the wrong places. Today the Jamaica Gleaner reported that Jamaica is rank the 5th most miserable country on earth and who could be surprised.

Just speaking to people around you on a daily basis, its desperation, hard luck stories and a sense of nothing seems to be moving forward in this country.

What is interesting about this report is it comes one day after a poll was released suggesting that business and consumer confidence has rebounded.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2615080/The-Cato-Institute-reveals-worlds-miserable-countries.html

Phillip Paulwell should be fired immediately !!

Phillip Paulwell says he is man on a mission, to get lower energy prices and he appears to be willing to do just about anything to achieve that, which would be a fillip for his chances to become leader of the PNP..

Paulwell who has compromised this project so far and has been able to have his way with the OUR , thus compromising that office in the process, is now attempting to do the same thing, with the OCG, how impetuous of this man.

The Gleaner ( 4/30/2014) reported the following

ENERGY MINISTER Phillip Paulwell is seeking to nudge Contractor General Dirk Harrison’s office into conceding that it erred when it concluded that the decision of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to facilitate the acceptance of Energy World International’s (EWI) proposal to participate in the bidding process for the supply of 381 megawatts of energy to the national grid was “unfair and irregular and a clear breach of the law.

“In the end, I am hoping that the OCG’s position will be modified to enable this process to be viewed directly by the international lending agencies, and I believe that the process is clearly provided for in the policy framework and that the OUR did nothing wrong,” the minister

The OCG says the process was compromised and now Phillip Paulwell wants the OCG to modify his position to make the position palatable to the IDB, , is this not incredulous and shows a man who appears to have no character or credibility left. The Contractor General office conducted and independent investigation and game to an independent position, that is a fact . How dare a politician  to try to now have this office which has been a beacon of transparency, high ethical standards and character , reverse its position so it agrees with Phillip Paulwell’s own convoluted and twisted idea of transparency !

Phillip Paulwell by his stance is seeking to COMPROMISE the offices of the OCG, which would leave that office with no moral authority to conduct any independent investigation in the future. Is this the new way, is this the PNP way, is cabinet in agreement with the position of Phillip Paulwell ?

This is what the IDB local offices had to say.

Therese Turner-Jones, the IDB’s representative to Jamaica, said it would be awkward for the Government to get involved in a matter between it and a private entity.

“A country like Jamaica really needs to pay attention to transparency and good procurement practices. We have been giving advice on that area, and we would be hardpressed to not follow our own advice,” she said.

 

If this is not a back hand slap in the face of Phillip Paulwell , then, I don’t know what else it could have been considered to be.

Phillip Paulwell has successfully tarnished the reputation of Jamaica and has been aided in doing so by the PNP cabinet !

The Minister needs to step aside and remove himself from the entire project for risk of damaging what’s left of the country’s reputation on the international scene.

It would appear the Prime Minister has no moral authority to fire the minister for this latest screwup since she was part of the group that endorsed his position in relation to EWI, but I would still hope the PM tries to save Jamaica by firing the minister before the end of the day today !

 

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140430/lead/lead1.html

Phillip Paulwell maybe down but he is certainly not out, he has one more ace up his sleeve !

EWI has no money and  with the rejection of assistance from the IDB, the world bank and the IFC as well as most major banks will stay very far from this project, which will all but cripple the entire project. ( Not so fast)

Phillip Paulwell may very well be a very poor “project manager” but he is no fool and is about to pull an ace from up his sleeves.

We can expect to see in very short order  China Exim Bank coming on board to finance the project and this will be announced as a joint venture between CHEC and EWI.

CHEC will build the plant with some input from  engineering arm of EWI , which is know as Slipform Engineering Company Limited.  The plant could be expanded from 381 MW and I strongly suspect, it will be the source of power for Goat Islands and not the coal fired plant that Dr Omar floated earlier this year.

The power plant will be built no doubt about that.

Let’s see how it plays out.

 

Phillip Paulwell breaks his silence, EWI sends letter to the minister

The Jamaica Observer earlier today issued a statement from the embattled energy Minister Phillip Paulwell in relation to the status of the 381MW project, see statement below

I am fully aware of the importance to Jamaica and the high interest of Jamaicans in respect of the 360 Megawatt Power Plant Project which is fundamentally significant to reducing the nation’s power cost.

The efforts to secure appropriate and affordable energy have been long and contentious at times, we have now however made solid progress and as a nation, we are on the threshold of breaking the back of this very difficult problem.

Recently the OUR recommended to me, as Minister, the issuance of a Power Generating License to Energy World International (EWI), which in turn is required to post a significant Performance Security Bond valued at USD 36.85M as a condition of the award

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Energy-minister-s-statement-on-progress-of-360-Megawatt-Power-Plant-Project

See letter from Energy World International in the attachment  ewi   ( click on ewi)

The letter raises a number of questions for me.

1. Why is EWI communicating to the Energy Minister and not the OUR ?
2. Did the license not suggest that the performance bond was to have been issued 10 days after the license was granted and failure to do would would trigger a certain action?
3. What does the performance bond has to do with the the IDB decision not to assist in the funding of the project ?
4. What is the position of the OUR in all of this or has it abdicated its responsibilities to the Energy Minister, Phillip Paulwell.

 

What a grand mess by the OUR and Phillip Paulwell !

I don’t want to say it, but I told you so !

I don’t believe there is anyone in Jamaica who has written about Energy World International and Corporation as this blog has done.  This blog has not only been examining the financial records of the entity, we have also looked at the financing of the project, examined the cost structure to determine final cost of electricity to be generated.

We have looked at the conduct of the Energy Minister and that of the OUR and have commented as we see fit in each of those cases.

I did mention in a number of articles on the position of the OUR and how its members are likely to find themselves in an embarrassing position, that could threaten their careers if they fail to carry out their jobs as in independent regulator.

We are at that point now, given that the IDB, which is an international lending agency with a solid reputation has rejected the OUR position on EWI entry into the bidding process and accepted the OCG position on this matter. This is a solid blow for the OUR and the only thing that they must now all do to save their careers is to get the hell out and leave Phillip Paulwell alone to face the music. Paulwell is very slick and I am sure in the coming days, he will try to extricate himself and lay the blame on the hapless OUR .

See http://wp.me/pvIkx-1zQ

The other issue I wrote about was the ability EWI/EWC to finance the project and this was what I wrote back then ( October 19, 2013).

 

EWI post 1% bid bond, so are we now in the clear ?

The big question for me is how does EWI/EWC plan to finance this project. Given the controversy surrounding this project, I do not see the IDB or world bank lending any money to EWC, which leaves only the China Exim bank , as no one else has enough money to undertake such a project

 

http://wp.me/pvIkx-1Cv

 

Yesterday, my position on the matter of the IDB lending money to EWI/EWC has been confirmed, which comes as a surprize to many but not to commonsenseja.

 

381MW Project in jeopardy as IDB refuses to provide financing and slams Phillip Paulwell’s interference in the project

As I mentioned yesterday, news has emerged that the Inter American Development Bank IDB, has refused to provide any financing to the EWI 381MW project in Jamaica.  The IDB in an email has reported that it’s refusal stems from the fact that the GOJ procurement guidelines were not followed and the selection of EWI did not satisfy IDB procurement rules.

The IDB cites the report from the Contractor General’s department, which had ruled that the bid submitted by EWI should have been rejected as they failed to meet the bid requirements as outlined by the OUR.

Nationwide News this afternoon reported that Phillip Paulwell and the Albert Gordon from the OUR, reportedly meet with the Contractor General over the weekend to  try and persuade him to change his report as it relates to the eligibility of EWI to have been included in the bidding process.

In a previous post I had commented that the OUR has allowed it members to have become compromised by the actions of the Energy Minister, which would have brought in question the character and  integrity of these folks ( at the OUR).  What I warned about appears to have happened. What will occur now is , the Energy Minister will try to extricate himself from the mess and  indicate that he was simply following the advice of the regulatory body, the OUR !

In order to save this project, the Energy Minister must now turn to the China Exim Bank, to provide financing and bring CHEC into on-board, this is the only card that can be played at this time.

This entire thing has been a disaster from the very beginning and Phillip Paulwell once again has showed he does not have the capability to handle mega projects, screwing up almost everything he lays his hands on.

I think its time for the project to be removed from Phillip Paulwell as it is very clear, he in incapable of doing what is required to get Jamaica’s energy cost down and has bungled this project every step of the way.

The members of the OUR have been compromised and their resignation would be in  order !

I am totally disgusted with the management of this project and now we can see why the Minister wanted the Energy Monitoring Committee (EMC) out of the way

 

The Prime Minister flies out once again !

Amidst growing anger over the Finance Minister bank withdrawal tax proposal, the Prime Minister who has managed to dodge question on this matter and who has left Peter Phillips to answer all the question, left the island over the weekend to attend a summit in Mexico.

Peter Phillips will be left on his own to face the music once again on his own, thus insulating the Prime Minister from the growing anger being expressed by Jamaicans.

Run Portia Run.

 

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Simpson-Miller–Nicholson-for-summit-in-Mexico_16551186

Did Phillip Paulwell remove the Performance Bond requirement for EWI ?

It has been reported that Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell has once again inserted himself in the middle of this 381 MW project and in so doing is obstructing the OUR as it tries to  carry out its mandate.

It has come to our attention that Phillip Paulwell in his quest to push EWI along , has removed the requirement for EWI to submit US$35m for a performance bond in keeping  with the original license document drafted by the OUR

We also have been made to understand that EWI had approached the IDB for financing for the project and their request was flatly rejected, which puts the project in doubt just at the point where we were  (most persons not Jay) led to believe,  it was about to move forward.

The meddling Energy Minister continues to make a mess of this entire project and needs to be removed forthwith before he causes further harm to Jamaica’s prospect of getting cheaper energy.

The OUR also needs to grow some balls or resign !

OUR in the dark regarding modified license issued to EWI.

The OUR has indicated that it is in the dark as it relates to the changes made to the original license it prepared and forwarded to Phillip Paulwell to be approved.

I did mention in a couple of articles on this matter before that Mr Paulwell is going to put the OUR into a corner and the integrity of those leading the organization could be compromised in the process and now I believe we are at that point.

The original document given to the minister to be approved, required that EWI hand over US$35M , within 10 days after the license was issued. The ten days have passed and the single authority in the country who ought to know is telling Jamaicans , they do not know if the license has been breached given the 10 days has expired and no monies have been paid over.

The OUR does not know because the license document it prepared was modified by Phillip Paulwell and OUR does not appear to have seen a copy of the modified document and now are in the dark.

This is unacceptable and we therefore call on the entire board and management team of the OUR to resign en bloc for failure to carry out the mandate issued to it by (not the the minister) but the people of Jamaica.

The gleaner is reporting the following:

THE OFFICE of Utilities Regulation (OUR) said yesterday that it was reviewing changes to the implementation schedule and licence given to Energy World International (EWI) by Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell for it to supply 381MW of generating capacity to the national grid, using natural gas as the fuel source.

At the same time, the OUR said it was not yet in a position to indicate whether the Hong Kong-based company was in breach of its licence by not providing the US$37 million performance bond, which the regulator said should have been paid within 10 days of the licence being issued.

Yvonne Grinam Nicholson, director, consumer and public affairs at the OUR, told The Gleaner that the regulator received documents, including an implementation schedule and the licence from EWI on Thursday evening.

 

So the OUR prepares and send a document to the Energy Minister for his approval. The Energy Minister modifies the original document, signs it and issues new document to the EWI. Reading the above it does not appear as if the OUR received a copy of  the modified document, given the report above which states ” the regulator received the documents including an implementation schedule and the modified license from EWI”

What is clear from the above , is the Minister and EWI are fully in charge of this project and the OUR is a mere spectator, failing to carry out its mandate.

Phillip Pualwell continues to make a mess of this project and along with the OUR should all resign, what is taking place here is UNACCEPTABLE !

Its no wonder Phillip Paulwell wanted to get rid of the Energy Monitoring Committee (EMC) !

Are Jamaicans simply about to standby and allow Phillip Paulwell to screw up this most important project ?