CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER of Neal & Massy, Gervase Warner, has indicated that the group is interested in investing in Barbados’ alternative energy sector.
Speaking at the opening of Super Centre and Dacosta Mannings’ new super store at Warrens, St Michael, yesterday, he said the Trinidad and Tobago-headquartered conglomerate was “one of the few people who submitted to the Government’s invitation to express an interest” in a waste-to-energy project.
Earlier this year Government solicited expressions of interest from companies interested in developing a waste-to-energy plant which would include landfill gas to energy, solar photovoltaics and wind.
In May, Minister of the Environment Dr Denis Lowe said Government had decided on a strategy of modern waste management technology at Mangrove and Vaucluse, both in St Thomas, and this would feature a transition from landfilling to the conversion of waste to energy.
“Government is well on its way in executing that programme,” Lowe said, specifying the recently built $26 million landfill (Cell 4) at Mangrove Pond as an area where organic waste could be stored until the waste-to-energy plant came on stream.
However, speaking following a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the store, Warner said the company had not yet received a response from Government.
“We haven’t heard back from them but we think that alternative energy investments are very important for Barbados. I think it’s a real important and key opportunity for growth. It’s a sector and an industry in which it would be great to have more investment,” he said.
He noted that with the cost of energy in Barbados being high, the group had installed LED lights in its stores and was modifying its cooling systems to reduce the electricity bill.
“If there are things we can do to bring down the cost of energy as well as create new industry, that is good for the environment, that is good for Barbados; that’s another area we’re looking to invest in as well,” he said. (NB)
