Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter

Foreign Affairs Minister Anthony Hylton says the LNG floating barge plan would take 18 months to execute. - File

Government has secured funding from the European Union (EU) for the proposed floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) platform at Port Esquivel in St. Catherine, according to Anthony Hylton, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

Mr. Hylton told The Gleaner yesterday that the funding would be made available by the European Investment Bank (EIB) as a "very soft loan" and could involve elements of grant funding.

"We are working together with them (the EIB) to determine the amount needed which is available under a special investment facility under the Cotonou Agreement," he said in reference to the free trade pact signed between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries.

He said that, once work on the regasification platform began, it would take 18 months to construct.

Endorsement

"The bank believes that the project qualifies as one of the best under this facility," he added.

Mr. Hylton was in Norway last week where he met with companies to build the platform, part of the LNG project that he has been working on for five years with existing plans to build a US$250 million land-based LNG regasification plant at Port Esquivel.

It is hoped that the project will drive down the cost of Jamaica's electricity generation, currently dependent on oil for fuel, spur industrial development in the surrounding area, as well as supplying the bauxite sector. The expansion of the Jamalco plant in Clarendon is contingent on this supply.

ross.sheil@gleanerjm.com