Thank you for visiting WWW.BELGRAFIX.COM, "Grenada on the Internet, one byte at a time"

HOME	OCTOBER 15 th, 2005

Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen has rejected a bid by gas station dealers on the island to get involved in the running of the state-controlled body to be set up by government to manage the Petrocaribe deal with Venezuela.

Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that Bowen gave the "thumbs down" to the offer that was made to him recently by some of the leading operators in the business like Edwin De Caul, Royston Haywood, and Rudy Dolland.

According to a source close to the industry, the gas station dealers asked the senior government minister to allow one of their members to get a directorship on the soon-to-be-announced Board of Directors.

He said that Bowen who is also the Minister of Energy informed the meeting that he could not grant the request since it amounted to "a conflict of interest" between the two bodies. He spoke of the gas station dealers offering another compromise of allowing someone other than a dealer to be appointed by them in order to have an input in the running of the company but that too was rejected.

The source said that Bowen indicated that this could only be given thought if such a recommendation was made by the Attorney General who is responsible for drafting the legislation to set up the state-run Petrocaribe body. The Deputy Prime Minister was also quizzed by the Gas Station dealers about the composition of the board but Bowen declined to give possible names.

However, sources close to government pointed out that Accountant Rupert Agostini, former General Manager of the National Water & Sewerage Authority (NAWASA), and former Chairman of NAWASA's board if Directors, Nelson Louison are tipped to land places on the Petrocaribe board.

Campbell is a close cousin of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and was once associated with the failed Call Centre operations at Seamoon Industrial Park. Another name that has surfaced in some quarters for a directorship on the Petrocaribe management board is that of St. Patrick's businessman, Kenny Lalsingh of the opposition People's Labour Movement (PLM).

Lalsingh is said to have traveled to Trinidad and Tobago recently with Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to attend an oil-related meeting involving officials from the University of the West Indies (UWI).

The PLM executive member was also on an official delegation that accompanied the Grenadian leader on a trip to the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The Mitchell government is in the process of putting together a management board for the island's participation in the oil arrangement with Venezuela.

Under the Petrocaribe deal, Grenada and other participating countries would pay 60% up front for their oil with the other 40% to be paid over a 25-year period at a low interest rate.