Mullings

Power outages which have plunged sections of the island into darkness in recent times became a point of discussion during a question and answer session in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Stating that the Government has been "very concerned" with the recent spate of outages, Minister with responsibility for Energy, Phillip Paulwell, said he had written to the Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. (JPS) about the problem.

Scheduled maintenance

The JPS has blamed the power cuts on scheduled maintenance of its B-6 unit as well as the breakdown of two other units.

"We have indicated to them that this is unacceptable and that we expect that the country will return to the 25 per cent reserve margin as quickly as possible," Paulwell told the House.

The minister reported that the Government has placed on hold plans to sell its 20 per cent shares in the majority-owned Mirant company.

He said a decision to sell its shareholdings would only be made "if and when the time is appropriate."

Asked by his Opposition counterpart, Clive Mullings, whether the Government would assume ownership or purchase majority shares in the light and power company, Mr. Paulwell said that, while not ruling out any options, neither of the two has been considered at this time.