NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC -Prime Minister Phillip Davis says the previous Free Nationwide Motion (FNM) authorities “by no means had a viable, structured plan for vitality reform” within the Bahamas and that his administration needed to safe a US$100 million mortgage urgently when it got here into workplace in 2021 to maintain the Bahamas Energy & Gentle (BPL) afloat.
Davis responded to an announcement by FNM and Opposition Chief Michael Pintard, who accused the ruling Progressive Labour Get together (PLP) of spreading “misinformation” concerning the final administration’s vitality reform technique.
He mentioned the Hubert Minnis administration had “an actual, structured plan for vitality reform” although it was by no means totally applied.
“The PLP, however, has wasted almost 4 years with out publishing a complete vitality plan with clear monetary projection,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, the Workplace of the Prime Minister mentioned in an announcement that the nation was in disaster when the Davis administration took workplace in September 2021.
“The brand new authorities inherited a fiscal emergency, hospitals in disrepair, faculties shuttered, file unemployment, and a failing BPL, which was saddled with greater than $500 million in debt. The federal government needed to mortgage BPL $100 million to maintain it afloat urgently,” it mentioned.
The federal government mentioned simply earlier than the election that the Minnis-Pintard administration stored spending cash “they didn’t have” on a reckless US$14 million land deal tied to a undertaking they knew had no path ahead.
“Bahamas Energy & Gentle (BPL) had made it clear: the one technique to shut the land deal was with proceeds from the Price Discount Bond (RRB). The identical RRB the FNM had didn’t execute — and knew wouldn’t occur.”
The federal government mentioned that regardless of this, in August 2021, weeks earlier than voters went to the polls, the Minnis authorities was nonetheless “throwing huge cash at it.”
“In October 2020, they’d already approved a $5.26 million cost and signed a $9.8 million promissory notice. Then, in April 2021, they paid an extra $2 million for a brief extension. The unique cut-off date was December 1, 2020.”
Davis mentioned that when his authorities took workplace, “the promissory notice had already been amended 3 times.”
He mentioned BPL’s attorneys tried to renegotiate “to at the least retain a portion of the land equal to the seven million {dollars} already spent,” however the vendor silenced these efforts.
“No authorized safeguards have been put in place on this association underneath the earlier authorities. There are not any protections for public cash. No ensures to get well what had already been spent.”
The federal government mentioned that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, important clear vitality investments have been made throughout the area however not in The Bahamas.
“However weeks earlier than the election, with sky-high unemployment and struggling throughout the nation, they have been dashing ahead with a land deal price hundreds of thousands — regardless of no funding, undertaking, or protections.
“This wasn’t a transition failure. It was an outgoing administration’s deliberate, reckless choice,” it added.
Prime Minister Davis mentioned that Pintard “is aware of the FNM by no means had a viable, structured plan for vitality reform. If he disagrees, he ought to make it public. The Bahamian individuals should see a plan they have been promised repeatedly however by no means acquired”.
