Lee: Government decimated energy sector

The Government has decimated TT’s energy sector, said opposition MP for Pointe-a-Pierre David Lee.

The opposition is calling for Energy and Energy Industries Minister Franklin Khan to resign.

Lee made the call at a press conference at the Office of the Leader of Opposition, Charles Street, Port of Spain, on Sunday. Speaking on the proposed sale of the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, Lee said before the local government elections of 2019 and the general election of 2020, the Government dangled the sale of the refinery to the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU)’s Patriotic Energies and Technologies Ltd before the population.

Last week the Government announced that the refinery will be put on the open market again to see what bids it might attract, after rejecting a bid by Patriotic.

It was announced last Thursday that the company would be given a second extension to prove its ability to buy the refinery.

Lee asked why the Government was fooling the population and Patriotic chairman and OWTU president general Ancel Roget.

Hecalled on the Prime Minister to come clean about the refinery.

“You have decimated the energy sector. Come clean and tell the population what is the true story of this refinery,” Lee said.

He asked if the Government was going to sell the refinery to OWTU/Patriotic based on the offer it had submitted.

“Over the last 24 months of negotiations, you would have heard OWTU would have spent millions of dollars putting together a business plan, meeting with international players. They would have spent a lot of money and I want to ask Prime Minister Rowley what is the true story,” he said.

He said there was a backlash from the Government’s announcement last Tuesday that Patriotic no longer enjoyed exclusivity on the sale of the refinery.

“What has happened now, you see the Prime Minister and the Cabinet running on Thursday to say they will give the OWTU deal another 15 days to evaluate.”

Lee asked what is going to happen in the other 15 days.

He said there was a lack of accountability and transparency surrounding the sale of the refinery and within the energy sector.

“You would have seen Point Lisas was decimated by this Government over the last five-six years.”

“This country has to ask itself, what has the Minister of Energy Franklin Khan done over the last five years, what has he done other than decimate our energy sector?

“Nothing has worked in our energy sector. They have given no incentives over the last five years…” Lee added that the country was living off of the incentives put in place in the energy sector by the People’s Partnership administration between 2010 and 2015.