THE two proposals for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities will be approved in “short order”, Prime Minister Perry Christie reiterated yesterday.
Speaking as a guest on the Island FM talk show “Parliament Street”, Mr Christie said that one of the LNG proposals should be approved by the end of the month, and that the other would be given the green light “imminently”.
The two proposals for storage terminals for LNG en route to Florida from harvesting countries on the other side of the Atlantic have been under consideration by the government for some time.
Originally, there were three proposals under consideration. One was by international energy giant AES, another by European entity Tractabel, and a third from the Texas-based El Paso.
The bids were reduced to two after the merger of Tractabel and El Paso last year.
The AES proposal is for the construction of a facility at Ocean Cay, a man-made island near Bimini originally constructed for the mining of aragonite.
The proposal by the recently merged Tractabel, El Paso and Florida Light and Power was originally envisioned to be located in Freeport Harbour.
Safety
Mr Christie said however, that for safety reasons another location in Grand Bahama would have to be identified for this project.
When the proposals were first announced, members of the public raised a number of safety concerns.
And environmentalists are concerned about how the underwater pipelines needed to transport the LNG will impact marine life, among other factors.
“I’m excited about the AES proposal for Bimini. I’m excited about this other proposal, as to where it will be located.
“If in fact there is an agreement for a location in Grand Bahama outside the port, they are likely to be approved imminently,” said the prime minister.
Mr Christie said he had indicated to AES that aside from a final financial evaluation, he would have given them an approval by the end of 2004.
“Everything is in place, except I have to look a little closer at a couple of figures to see if the Bahamas is going to benefit significantly from it,” he said.
Mr Christie said that approval of the AES project should be given by the end of January.
Source: Paco Nunez, The Tribune
