Government operatives lies about generators exposed by PAM Leader Lindsay Grant
 
Satisfactory and adequate power supply promised under new PAM administration
 

Hon. Shawn K. Richards (Parlimentary Representative Const #5), Mr. Lindsay Grant (Political Leader Peoples Action Movement), Bernard Welsh (Electrical Engineer)

Press Conference   Mr. Grant lamented the  fact that residents of St.Kitts have had to suffer through almost 10 years of an unreliable and sub-standard power supply. A situation ,Mr Grant stated , was brought about by the irresponsible and foolish investment of 30 million dollars in a pair of prototype generators from a company known as Mirless in 1998.

 “The final matter that I will address is the unreliable and substandard electricity supply that we have been forced to endure on St. Kitts since this Administration purchased two prototype generators from Mirlees in 1998,” Mr. Grant stated

Grant declared to the press during the Press Conference that the Labor Party gov’t was advised by a 6 man panel of local engineers and experts against the purchase of the two prototype generators. According to Grant, the past decision that was “completely avoidable” now presents serious economic strains for consumers, inefficiency at the power plant and has further increased the national debt 
 

“From the very beginning this irresponsible and foolish investment has been a severe cost to the people living on this island and this situation is made all the more galling by the fact that this was completely avoidable.

The experienced engineers at the power plant at the time as well as the six man committee put together  to advise the government on the purchase of the generators with eminent civil servants like Dr. Ballantine, advised and warned the government against making St. Kitts a guinea pig for the manufacturer of these defective generators which have been out of production since 1999.

Despite this advice the government arrogantly went ahead and removed $30 million from the Treasury on what should have been free generators fully knowing that there would not be any opportunity to buy spare parts only one year later,” Grant emphatically stated during his statement to the press at the Bird Rock Beach Hotel.

~~Adz:Right~~Grant also questioned the credibility of MAN Diesel representative Terry Burns who in a live press conference held earlier this month, with public works minister, Asim Martin and power plant and electricity department officials had publicly dismissed speculations that the generators were prototypes.

According to Grant Mr. Burns statement contradicted that of former Minister of Utiltities Halva Hendrickson. Mr. Grant’s statement to the press revealed that Hendrickson refered to the generators in question as prototypes during a presentation to Parliament in 2004.

“In the months leading up to the last General Elections in 2004 we were continuously affected by blackouts and brown – outs that caused serious property damage to countless residents. It was during the worst of these that the Minister in charge at the time

Mr. Halva Hendrickson admitted in Parliament that the reason for the problems was the fact that the generators were prototypes and so there was significant difficulty sourcing spare parts. The situation deteriorated to such an extent that Minister Hendrickson was removed and replaced by the Prime Minister himself as the Minister for Utilities,” the PAM Leader said.
 
Grant received much support in his statement when Electrical Engineering Consultant Mr. Bernard Welsh who was the Engineer at the Electricity Department that oversaw the review of bids for the new generators and who also was a member of the 6 man advisory committee stated to the press that based on the definition of prototypes in the engineering world the generators were in fact prototypes.

Mr. Welsh intimated that if there has not been more than 50 units of a particular generator produced it is considered a prototype. The engineer went on to state that prototype also refers to a generator that has not gone into commission or first ever installed.

“At the time when the sets were bought there were only 29 of the generators in question produced in the world,” said Welsh .
“17 of those 29 was sent to China where to date they have not been paid for as the Chineese government was not pleased with their performance. Another 10 was sent to the Isle of Man which is the testing ground for the manufacturers of the said sets of generators and 2 went to Indonesia.” Welsh stated.

According to Welsh the said generators were shopped around to other islands and countries within the region including Barbados ,St.Lucia and Tobago where the company offered the generators free with a cost only applied for the auxiliary and civic works,  but were refused . This begs the question why did the government pay 30 million dollars for two generators that were offered to them and other countries free of charge.

Welsh also expressed a desire for the Prime Minister to fulfill his promise of a full investigation or Commision of Inquiry into the whole matter. Something he promised in 2004 after a similar blackout.

Since the installation of the two prototype generators in question in 1999 St.Kitts has been experiencing unprecedented regular and constant power outages which has resulted in the loss of many appliances of consumers.  The Electricity Department has had to rent generators at hundreds of thousands of dollars per month on two separate occasions .First in 2004 until early 2006 and now again in 2008.

Grant assured the press, residents and the radio and internet listeners that upon taking office his PAM administration will seek to address the electricity problems with a matter of urgency.