Govt saves Mitsubishi deal

Former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar turned the sod for the plant days before the September 7, 2015 general election.

Young said upon assuming office last September, the People’s National Movement (PNM) was approached by the project’s investors for a sign off on the AG’s opinion for the project, which did not happen under the PP. Young also said the PNM discovered “an unusual amount of pressure being put on the technocrats at the Ministry of the AG by the politicians to have a sign off “ on the AG’s opinion as proposed by the PP.He explained what the PP had agreed to was, “something that had the potential to expose TT to billions of US dollars in claims.” Young said this led to immediate talks with the Japanese government, the Mitsubishi Corporation and the Massy Group over the last several months. This included a trip by him to Japan.

After those negotiations, Young said, “We were able to come up with a mutually acceptable amendment to the agreement that extricated TT from these potential billions of dollars in claims.” He said Mitubishi officials came to TT this week and signed the amended agreements.

Young also indicated that Imbert, in his capacity as Finance Minister, signed an amended letter of comfort. “I signed the final document which has concluded the transaction, that is the AG opinion,” he added.

Under the arrangement negotiated by the PP, Imbert said, “What had been happening all the time was the investors...

Massy, Mitsubishi, NGC...had used their own money to start the project.” He explained the signing of the amended comfort letter and amended AG’s opinion, meant the project’s investors could now access funds from the Japanese government, “and really get going in earnest.” Supporting Young’s earlier position, Imbert stated, “Whenever you have projects of this nature which are financed by a foreign bank, they would either want a government guarantee or they would want what is called a letter of comfort where the Government would give an indication that it would give its best effort to support the project financially, if there is a problem.” Imbert added that until the comfort letter and the AG’s opinion have been signed off, “the financing cannot be released by the bank, whether it is an exim bank.” After saying the project will employ 1,000 persons in the construction phase and 600 persons afterwards, Young said the Japanese government and the Mitsubishi Corporation now see TT, “as a bigger potential market for further investment.” In addition to receving revenue from sales of natural gas to the plant, Young said Government is a 20 percent shareholder in the plant via the National Gas Company (NGC). Young will make a statement in Parliament next month to provide further details on this matter.