Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said that a US$68 million loan has been secured for the purchase, but made it clear that it would not increase government’s debt burden.
Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer made the announcement in Parliament yesterday, as opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) members boycotted the sitting.
The majority shares in WIOC are currently held by National Petroleum Ltd (NPL), but Spencer said that would soon be no more.
“My Government has negotiated an agreement to buy out NPL and regain the full control of West Indies Oil Company – both the fuel business and the real estate component of the company,” he announced.
The acquisition is in keeping with a promise made in the United Progressive Party (UPP) manifesto published ahead of the March 2009 general elections.
Spencer said that a US$68 million loan has been secured for the purchase, but made it clear that it would not increase government’s debt burden. He explained that PDV CAB, a private company for which the Government of Antigua and Barbuda is the sole shareholder, will borrow the funds for the acquisition and will hold the shares on behalf of the people of Antigua and Barbuda.
The loan, from Venezuelan firm PDVSA, has a 20-year payback period and is associated with a two year moratorium with the interest rate fixed at six percent.
“Immediately following the acquisition, the Government will separate out the US$30.5 million worth of non-core business real estate and vest same in a newly created company titled Patriot Land Holdings. In collaboration with the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange the Government will then offer shares in this new real estate development company to Antiguans and Barbudans at home and abroad thereby giving the power back to the people,” Spencer told parliament.
“The public company, owned by Antiguans and Barbudans, will then develop the lands for commercial and residential purposes.”
In addition to purchasing shares in Patriot Land Holdings Ltd, Antiguans and Barbudans will also have the opportunity to purchase shares in WIOC’s petroleum-related operations when government divests the 25 percent shares which it currently holds in the company.
The Prime Minister said that his government will also divest the assets held in Dominica. He said negotiations have already begun with the Roosevelt Skerrit administration on the matter.
Opposition MPs boycott parliament
Spencer’s announcements came at the first sitting of the House of Representatives since a March 31st ruling by High Court Justice Louise Blenman on election challenges taken to the court by the ALP. She voided the seats of Spencer, Education Minister Dr Jacqui Quinn-Leandro and Tourism Minister John Maginley.
Her ruling has been challenged and a hearing is scheduled for June 29th. In the meantime, the Opposition MPs insist, the administration should not be conducting any business in Parliament until a decision on the challenge is made.
A few dozen ALP supporters joined the MPs in a picket outside the House of Representatives yesterday, even as business continued as usual inside the building.
Opposition Leader Lester Bird made his side’s position clear in a May 26th letter addressed to Speaker of House D Gisele Isaac-Arrindel.
“I insist that the actions of the United Progressive Party are unlawful and the Antigua Labour Party parliamentarians will not lend legitimacy to the illegal actions by being present,” he wrote.
In the opposition’s absence, several bills were introduced and the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention) Bill passed.
