Committee Named For Energy Accelerator Hub
Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Dr. Roodal Moonilal has confirmed that Cabinet has approved the introduction of the Energy Accelerator Hub in a bid to tackle long-standing bureaucratic delays in the energy sector.
He says despite facing what he described as energy poverty over the 2016 to 2024 period, the energy sector remains committed to advancing the national economic transformation.
« Domestic energy projects are increasingly under strain through a process of approvals and licences and so on within the sector. We have calculated that to get one major energy project off the ground, it requires the work of 16 government agencies across six ministries of government. A major complaint we received from all stakeholders, whether they be upstream, midstream or downstream, is a concern with the pace of getting approvals and licences and amendments in some cases to existing contracts and agreements. With this in mind, the Ministry undertook a period of study and looked and discussed, consulted with all stakeholders in the sector and today Cabinet approved the establishment in the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries of an Oversight Committee called the Energy Accelerator Hub. This unit, to be housed within the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, will interface directly and in real time with all stakeholders in the Ministry. »
The Committee will include Minister Moonilal, Minister in the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, Ernesto Kesar, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, the head of the legal department of the Ministry of Energy, the Chairman of the Environmental Management Authority, the Chairman of the Works Permit Committee, and the Chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Authority, and Comptroller of Customs.
