JAMAICA LABOUR Party leader Edward Seaga is calling on the Government for transparency in the soon-to-be-finalised divestment of the Jamaica Public Service Co. Ltd., to Mirant Energy Inc. of the USA.
To this end, he urged the Government in a television broadcast on Tuesday night to table the JPSCo. agreement for divestment in Parliament before the sale is completed. This, he argued, would "enable the country to be fully informed and to raise any questions necessary."
Describing the JPSCo. as the "most important asset owned by Government", Mr. Seaga said the negotiations had taken place entirely in secret, "ignoring many important areas and leaving critical questions to be answered".
Electricity rates had been a burden to consumers and a serious handicap to the competitiveness of Jamaican manufacturing industries, tourism and agro-industry, he said.
The JLP had repeatedly stated that because Jamaica had the second highest electricity rate in this region, any divestment of the power-and-light company should be only to a firm which has the technology to lower electricity rates significantly, he said.
But Mr. Seaga said that this had not been done. "The purchasers of JPSCo do not possess any such credible technology. Hence we are about to lose, once and for all, any possibility of reducing the substantial burden of high rates leaving the way open for cheaper imports from countries with lower electricity costs and closing the door to Jamaican exports by failing to reduce our cost of production to competitive levels. The vital opportunity to revive the sick manufacturing sector is about to be lost".
Mr. Seaga said that according to the agreement the purchaser was to invest US$500 million over the next 10 years in new generating capacity, and asked what penalties were built into the agreement to enforce it.
Also, he asked whether there were provisions to require the JPSCo under the new ownership to give access to the company's transmission lines to other new generators of power in the future.
"Because of the secrecy and lack of information", Mr. Seaga said, "the JLP calls on the Government to table the JPSCo agreement for divestment in Parliament before the sale is completed to enable the country to be fully informed and to raise any questions necessary".
