| (Stoney Grove, Nevis) – It was an
historic moment at the Netball Complex last Tuesday
afternoon when cabinet members of the Nevis Island Administration,
management of Nevis Electric Company and the CEO of
West Indies Power in an atmosphere of celebration, signed
the long waited power purchase agreement.
Some of the details of who is going to make how much
money were laid out by the NIA legal advisor the Hon.
Patrice Nisbett.
* Ten percent of the shares of West Indies Power
(Nevis) will be owned by the NIA and there is an option
for the government to purchase another 10 percent
later, which they plan to do
*The sale of power to St. Kitts is to be considered
domestic sales and the NIA will receive a five percent
royalty on all domestic power sales.
*Nevlec will broker all domestic power sales. WIP
will directly wholesale all export power.
*The NIA will earn 7.5 percent royalty on all export
power.
*WIP has the concession of a 25-year tax holiday.
* A development fund of five percent of gross sales
to be paid for by WIP will be set aside for special
projects such as education and sports.
Also signed during the event was the Geothermal Resources
Contract which grants WIP permits, licenses and concessions
for exploration, drilling and steam production at
the Nevis1 site in Spring Hill and the Nevis 2 site
in upper Jessup’s for the next two years. The
Hamilton site, Nevis 3 was not included in any of
the contract agreements. The legalities of developing
that site will be dealt with years from now when the
first two sites have been exploited.
As part of the agreement, WIP has to start producing
electricity by the end of 2010 or the contract has
to be renegotiated.
WIP has to post a performance bond of US$125,000
to the NIA to ensure the reclamation of the resource
area once the power plants are constructed and to
insure against future damages.
An additional performance bond of US$20,000 will
be paid by WIP for each production well drilled on
the island.
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