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 ?