PM says engines purchased for $95 million in 2019 ‘do not work’.
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Philip Davis yesterday asserted that the current state of affairs at Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) is a direct result of the decisions taken by the Minnis administration, suggesting that there was something foul regarding the company’s purchase of seven Wärtsilä engines back in 2019.
Former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis briefly addressed rising electricity costs in Parliament yesterday stating: “Light bills are not just going up because it’s summer. Bahamians are paying more because the PLP did not execute the program we had in place to buy oil cheaper and keep bills lower.”
Following that statement, Prime Minster Davis rose to his feet, asserting that the higher bills can be attributed to decisions made by Dr Minnis and his administration while in office.
“The unfortunate state of affairs at BPL and what it is today lies directly at the feet of the previous FNM administration. They started off with the Wärtsilä plant. They are not working and have never worked properly,” said Davis.
He noted that government is working to ascertain why those engines which were purchased for some $95 million do not work.
“I don’t like looking backward. I don’t but I have to in this instance because there is a lot of smoke that surrounds that transaction. They are not working and we want to understand why. It was said that those engines were tri-fuel. If you look on BPL’s website now it says tri-fuel. We are understanding that they are not and that throws back the plans we had in place,” said Davis.
“Those engines were supposed to burn a particular type of oil. You will find they were not capable of doing so and it has caused an acceleration of maintenance to the extent to where over $3 million has been lost in the maintenance of those engines.”
Prime Minister Davis also stated that Wärtsilä is not serving the engines despite being paid ‘millions.’ He also claimed that the engines were placed in a ‘dilapidated building and cannot run for fear that the building will collapse.
