By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said Bahamas Power and Light’s Wartsila engines “never worked properly”.

He responded to former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ criticisms about rising electricity costs and reliability issues.

He noted the government discontinued his administration’s fuel hedge programme, which the Inter-American Development Bank had supported and praised.

Mr Davis said: “They started off with Wartsila plans — they are not working. They’ve never worked properly. I don’t like looking backwards. I don’t, but I have to in this instance because there’s a lot of smoke that surrounds that transaction with the Wartsila engines. They’re not working. In fact, we want to understand why. I will bring the documents as well. I want to understand why. It was present that those engines were tri-fuel.”

Dr Minnis asked the prime minister to table the log for Wartsila’s maintenance programme.

Mr Davis responded: “That is coming because he would find out that those engines was supposed to burn a particular type of oil.”

“You will find the engines were not able or capable of doing so, and as a result, it has caused an acceleration of maintenance to an extent where $3m has been lost in the maintaining of those engines.

“You’ll find that Wartsila, they’re not here, but they were being paid millions of dollars –– for what when Bahamians were doing it? You’ll find that those engines were constructed in a dilapidated building therefore they can’t run for fear the building will collapse on it.”

Works and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears said there would be a full communication on BPL, with documents laid along with the results of a forensic analysis.