It’s 80-Megawatt, Again?

At Issue: Governor puts an end to see-saw syndrome on multi-million dollar power plant project.

Our View: A decision, via legislation, pre-empts vacillation on whether it’s 80 or 60 megawatt.

The approval of legislation reinstating the original power plant project back to 80-megawatt hopefully brings to an end nearly three years of endless wrangling over whether we should build an 80 or 60-megawatt power generation facility.

It boggles the mind how the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation has campaigned for two years of the need for the 80-megawatt project.
It subsequently decided to collapse it to 60-megawatt. Several issues emerged from this change in decision:

1.) The apparent inability of CUC to get its act together. 2.) Total disregard of huge expenses incurred by interested firms preparing technical plans based on the RFP. 3). The instant display of its penchant to change canoe right in midstream. In the process, it lost focus of the task at hand.

We do not necessarily subscribe to political solutions on issues legally assigned to semi-autonomous agencies. But where agencies fail to resolve substantive policy matters responsibly, there’s nothing to prevent the legislature from intervening on every rightful policy matter. It goes without saying that CUC failed to institute and strengthen stability on policy matters often derailed by politics that predominate discussions. It’s an issue that should have been resolved more than two years ago.

In much the same way that previous legislative leadership has piled up protectionist measures ruining rare opportunities for wealth and jobs creation, CUC, in its infinite wisdom, also contributed to spreading the image of instability right smack in the middle of vicious assaults we had to endure from the Asian Crisis. Perhaps it’s just as appropriate a time to revisit the very essence of reviving policy stability in the interest of rebuilding the ruined image of these isles as a sound investment venue.

It is really very unsettling allowing the legislature and city hall to intervene on what’s really CUC’s as to supplant the very fiduciary role it was legally entrusted as a semi-autonomous agency. Lest we forget, the very basic intent of establishing semi-autonomous agencies is to weed out political interferences from our men of wisdom.

CUC vacillated so grandly as to fail its very fiduciary responsibility. We hope it has learned that it can’t toy around with substantive policy decisions that make major investors nervous about investing in these isles. Si Yuus Maase`!