Thursday, July 9, 2009

Home National Sports Business Lifestyles Religion Arts & Culture Pulse Spice Editorial letters Opinion Foodie Sportscope Real Talks Weekend Report PDF's Classifieds Contact About Us Archive Weather

$20m for Abaco plant 'ancillary'? The minister responsible for utilities is moving to explain an apparent $20m increase in spending for BEC's Abaco plant. "There are ancillary works included that will make sure the plant operates fully," said State Minister for Utilities Phenton Neymour. "That money is for the entire project, the cost for the plant itself is still $70m." The statements follow an earlier Guardian Business article pointing to the minister's latest guesstimates for the new Abaco plant, Neymour suggesting costs would come in at $90m. Only months ago he cited that $70m figure. Still, last week he said the new figure represented some $15m for the fuel tank alone, with a new fuel line also to be added onto the tab. "Those are additional cost bringing the total project cost to $90m." Speaking at the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce's 'Meet the Ministers' forum last week, Neymour said the money would come out of a $211m loan for the Bahamas Electricity Corporation that was tabled in the House of Assembly last week. "We expect to be finished with that in January," said Neymour. Also included in the loan funds was a $30m new plant in Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera, as well as a Bimini plant expansion and takeover of Inagua's plant. Monday, June 29, 2009