PAM stands by proclamation that generators are prototypes
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
 |
| Lindsay Grant, Leader of the People's Action Movement |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-LEADER of the People’s Action Movement (PAM), Lindsay Grant, reaffirmed with documentation yesterday (Oct. 23) his party’s belief that the Mirrlees generators purchased by Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas’ administration are prototype generators, despite a commissioned ‘expert’ reporting otherwise earlier in the month.
Grant quoted excerpts from a Mirrlees letterhead document dating January 1, 1998, just prior to the St. Kitts-Nevis government’s purchase of the Mirrlees 8MB and 12MB 430-series generators.
“The 8 cylinder in-line version of the MB430 range is a natural extension of the successful ‘V range’ and, during development testing, has fulfilled all the expectations in terms of reliability, specific fuel consumption and availability,” was the specific passage the PAM Leader pointed to as evidence of the generators being ‘prototypes’”.
“What Mirrlees-Blackstone was in fact saying [in that passage] is that the 8MB generator that we received in 1998/99 was the very first on the production line by Mirrlees-Blackstone,” Grant said, stressing the “development testing” section.
Also speaking at PAM’s monthly press conference was, Bernard Welsh, an engineer with twenty years of experience at the Electricity Department who had worked with an advisory committee at the time of the Mirrlees purchases.
 |
| Bernard Welsh, former engineer with the St. Kitts Electricity Department |
Welsh stated that a “six man committee” commissioned in 1998 to assess the various types of generators available at the time advised the government not to purchase the Mirrlees sets because there were only thirty-nine in operation in the world and they “had not been put into commercial operation at the time”.
“We all know that [the Mirrlees generators] have been nothing but trouble since they were installed, and that they have added significantly to our national debt,” Grant said. “The crux of the matter is that government was advised by the six man committee not to purchase the Mirrlees generators, so Cabinet has to be held accountable for the millions of dollars that we have spent to repair them.”
The reassertion that the Mirrlees generators at the Needsmust Power Station are prototypes comes only two weeks after Regional Consultant for MAN Diesel, Terrance Burns, was brought in by the government to assess the catastrophic damage caused by an October 2 engine fire.
After his assessment, Burns told the media that “none of the engines operating in the St. Kitts power station are prototypes”.
~~Adz:Right~~ “The Mirrlees MB 430 series of engines have been in operation around the world in countries like China, Brazil and Switzerland since 1987,” Burns said.
Grant went on to say that whether or not people believe the engines to be prototypes or not, “the failure of these generators has been the only constant in our electricity supply over the past decade”.
The current load shedding situation was then compared to the “countless black outs and brown outs” leading up to the 2004 general elections, and Grant asked why the people of St. Kitts should not receive a $500 electricity rebate now instead of “waiting until nine days before general elections”.
Grant said it was time for the populace to decide “who is fooling who”.
