LNG project not cancelled, says PM
Published:Friday | May 27, 2011 | 12:00 AM
PRIME MINISTER Bruce Golding has indicated that the Government's liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has not been cancelled, but is still proceeding.
His comments follow a 628-page report submitted to Parliament by Contractor General Greg Christie on the award of a contract to construct a floating storage and regasification unit for the LNG project.
Speaking on his 'Jamaica House Live' programme on Wednesday, Golding said Cabinet would review the recommendations of the contractor general.
Christie, in his report, had uncovered multiple irregularities and improprieties in the tender process.
"The contractor general has recommended that the tender process be aborted and that it be done over. That does not mean that the LNG project has been cancelled; far from it. It is too important to us, too vital for our economic future, to our investment prospects, our hope for development and, therefore, the project is proceeding apace," said Golding at the beginning of his programme.
tainted by conflict of interest
Christie charged that the entire tender process for the LNG project has been compromised, brought into disrepute and tainted by a conflict of interest and a gross lack of objectivity and impartiality.
It was revealed that the then (2009) Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) board of directors had expressed several concerns with respect to the manner in which approvals were being requested for the project.
"In point of fact, the minutes of the PCJ board of directors, which was dated 2009 December 10, indicated that the approval from the Cabinet preceded the approval from the procurement committee '... and the committee could not interfere with Cabinet's decision ...'," the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) reported.
Based on the OCG's findings, Christie has recommended that the current tender process be immediately aborted.
He has suggested that a new OCG-supervised and scrutinised process be undertaken by the PCJ and the energy ministry.
The OCG has referred its findings to Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn and Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington for criminal investigation to be undertaken into the matter.