Ashford W. Meikle, Staff Reporter
Special Envoy in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ambassador Anthony Hylton (left), speaking at NCB's Quarterly Economic Symposium held yesterday at the bank's headquarters at the Atrium, Trafalgar Road, New Kingtson. Beside him is group Managing Director of NCB, Patrick Hylton. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE SPECIAL envoy in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ambassador Anthony Hylton, yesterday said the country's energy policy had been finalised and hinted that the 2006/2007 budget would see special incentives to boost energy efficiency.
"This year ... there will be a suite of things that will come [to the] budget on the energy front largely because the policy is now settled. We have spent the last three years working on the policy. What we have now is a clear and coherent strategy going forward," noted Hylton. He was addressing a group of bankers on the investment opportunities and benefits from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project at National Commercial Bank's Atrium headquarters on Trafalgar Road in New Kingston.
SYSTEMATIC APPROACH
The ambassador admitted that while the first comprehensive energy policy goes back 10 years, and there has not always been a systematic approach even though incentives exist to encourage persons to use solar energy.
"They (policies) are there, you know [but] they need to be improved. If you buy a solar water heater, for example, you don't pay any GCT," he said. "What we are looking at is deepening those incentives."
Acknowledging that the Government has to do more to promote the development of solar energy, Hylton pointed to the recent NHT proposals made by Prime Minister Patterson which look to the possibility of beneficiaries getting incentives for home improvement loans that include solar energy as part of the refurbishing process. This, said the ambassador, "will be part of the mortgage going forward."
Imported oil is responsible for about 90 per cent of Jamaica's energy supply mix and is responsible for about 95 per cent of electricity generation. However, while oil import costs have risen (from US$323 million in 1998 to US$1 billion in 2005) the country's energy intensity and efficiency have worsened.
For 2005 the country's export earnings are estimated at US$1.4 billion. However, over 70 per cent of this would be required to pay the oil bill.
But while he pointed to the benefits from solar energy, he emphasised, "it is not a substitute for the LNG strategy."
That strategy involves the construction of a US$240 million regasification and storage plant to facilitate the import of 1.15 million tonnes per annum of LNG from Trinidad and Tobago.
The special envoy noted that a key part of the Government's energy policy is the diversification of the country's energy sources. He said, "The energy market, ... has become really a wild animal to ride."
According to Hylton, "The faster that we can get to natural gas - as we should - the better off we will be."
