ULP give away La-Sou-Fray

Allow me to quote from my article written ah month ago: “So when ah hear about Geothermal energy, ah source of cheaper and cleaner energy from the Volcano, ah tell me self it sound good, but de price will not go down and “Dey Go Fool We Again!” Of course ah was reminding readers of de many times dat dis Gone-Soft led ULP Go-venom-mint “fool we again,” but de truth is, when ah wrote dat article ah had no hard facts on de SVG Geo-terminal Project, except ah know ah was dealing wid ah Go-venom-mint of Half-truths and unfounded promises, Argyle Airport is de classic example.{{more}} We never know what next to expect, when dey not asking foh more funds is further extension of completion date.

But wid research matters like Airport and more specifically Energy, if is one reliable source ah could count on, is Haz Samuel. Vincentian born’n’bread, an expert in energy, famed worldwide foh his Award winning Energy Saving Project “We Electricity.” Haz, in yet another belly cutting article reminds us dat between 2005 and 2010, when European Union (EU) grant funding windows were open to finance Geothermal Development Projects in the Caribbean, de Dominica Government successfully applied for and negotiated not one, but a series of grants for its own Geothermal exploration program, de search and drilling stage of their Geothermal Project. So wid dat kind ah financial help Dominica got, dey should be able to sell electricity cheaper to its consumers, SVG will not and dis is because of incompetence. Our people-loving ULP Go-venom-mint failed initially to do like Dominica and get EU Grant Funding foh de exploration stage of our Geo-terminal Project. Instead in 2008, we signed ah one-year MOU dat went over to two years, wid ah private company, CGE Ltd, Croghan Energy for the exploration and development of dis country’s Geo-terminal resources. Nothing happened and according to Haz: “Maybe next time we should do ah lickle private investigation to avoid dealing wid Geothermal developers with no track record in developing anything related to Geothermal.” De reality is that during the period 2008 to 2012, inspite of all its MT promises, the geothermal development milestones achieved by de ULP Go-venom-mint amounted to, practically speaking, nothing.

Ah fresh start was made in 2013 wid Reykjavik Geothermal whose Chief Operating Officer, Gunnar Orn Gunnarsson told us, dat de project will cost some US$55 million or EC$148 million equivalent to US$6 million and US$8 million per megawatt of electricity. Dis week, barely two years after, we are being told in Par-liar-mint by de PM, dat dis project dat started two years ago, should be ready by 2018 and de cost is now up to US$82 million or EC$221 million. Doesn’t dis smell like another Argyle International Airport. De Go-venom-mint of SVG is broke and cannot afford to finance any big project, dey missed de boat ten years ago. So he will surrender de project to de developers who will call de shots, in other words de ULP Go-venom-mint Give-way La Suf-fray!

But ah need clarification as to what exactly de PM means by “de project should be ready by 2018.” He certainly ain’t mean delivering electricity. Because it took Dominica ten years to complete de drilling program, Dominica’s next stage is “Design and Construc­tion of a Geothermal Power Station, not delivering Electricity yet. Dominica is about eight years ahead of us which means dat in 2023 we might be way Dominica is now, we will not be producing Electricity. Ah sorry de PM won’t be around in 2023 to hear him fixing another Fan-Tom delivery date as he is so accustomed doing wid Argyle Airport.

It was refreshing to have Hon. Daniel Cummings Back correction, his Back is better, thank yuh Jesus! Cummings contribution to de Geo-terminal Debate in de House dis week was like ah Grenade in de Go-venom mint vehicle; he came out foh dem wid ah bone in his throat. Cummings smell de Rat, Red or Yellow in de project, ah love de way he sums it all up: “De Geo-terminal deal is ‘a sinister plot to enrich people at the expense’ of Vincentians !” Ley de records show “ULP Give-Way La Suf-Fray!” And wid dat is gone ah gone again!

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.