St. George’s, December 22, 2012 – A Canadian company is said to be waiting to purchase majority holdings in the Grenada Electricity Services Ltd. (GRENLEC), if the government here is unable or unwilling to buy the shares.
“Next in line to purchase, should government decline WRB’s offer, is Emera – a Canadian power company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia,’’ Caribupdate Weekly said in its December 19 edition.
WRB Enterprises, which is headquartered in Florida, is selling its 51 percent GRENLEC holdings. GRENLEC is the sole electricity provider in Grenada.
Under an existing an agreement, the first option to purchase must be given to the Grenada government. However, government must exercise its option by December 26 or WRB can seek another buyer.
Caribupdate Weekly said Emera is willing to buy the shares which are said to cost in the range of $100 million.
“The company is already involved in electricity businesses in Caribbean countries such as the Bahamas, St. Lucia and Barbados. Greg Hines, a director with Emera, has been visiting Grenada,’’ said Caribupdate Weekly, which is Grenada’s latest newspaper. It first published on December 13.
There has been mixed reaction from prominent Grenadians, including parliamentarians, on whether the government should purchase the GRENLEC shares.
Opposition leader, Dr. Keith Mitchell, for example, supports the idea of a purchase. However, the leader of the union representing GRENLEC workers is against it.
“I would much prefer GRENLEC to be owned by a power-generating concern, whose interest would not just be profits but also to maintain the world-class facility that GRENLEC has become,’’ said Senator Chester Humphrey, president general of the Technical and Allied Workers’ Union.
Meanwhile, Caribupdate Weekly is also reporting that government has invited Patricia D.M. Clarke to be its new consul general in New York. She will replace Derrick James, who was terminated in early December.
“Clarke is a counselor at the Grenada Embassy in Washington and an alternative representative to the Organization of American States,’’ the paper said.
“Caribupdate Weekly was also reliably informed that the consul general job offer was made to Marguerite St. John-Sebastian but she turned it down. St. John-Sebastian is a counselor at the UN Mission in New York.’’
