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It appears that somebody is listening.
The Minister of Energy and Business Senator Lisa Cummins has finally announced a refashioning of the Barbados National Oil Company (BNOC).
I have been saying for a number of years that BNOC, the National Terminal Company Limited and the National Petroleum Company should amalgamate into a Limited Liability cum-Public-Private-Partnership.
This company’s primary role and responsibility should be the production, storage, transmission and distribution of renewable energy products to local and regional markets. Its capitalisation would include the issuing of a share prospectus.
Shares should also be traded on the local Stock Exchange.
If, as is repeated from time to time “we are in it together”, then this is an excellent and most opportune time for government to economically empower and enfranchise the average wage-earning Joe and Jane Public.
Government has a responsibility and an obligation to not only partner with big investors but to create opportunities for individual members of the public.
Here’s hoping that the policy and decision-makers have finally realised that opportunities for shareholdership by members of the public are positive and realistic ways to share both the economic pie and the wealth of the nation Barbados.
Ultimately, it should not escape one’s memory that the many hands creating light work should be rewarded.
Michael Ray
