Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine is assuring the nation that there will be no gas price increases in Monday's 2014/2015 national budget.He gave the assurance yesterday as he sought to allay public fears of a looming gas hike after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended T&T cut its fuel subsidy to facilitate sustainable economic growth.Speaking at yesterday's post-Cabinet media briefing at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, Chancery Lane, San Fernando, Ramnarine said a Government fuel price hike will not be part of Finance Minister Larry Howai's budget announcements."Just to dispel any sort of idea, the Government is not going to be increasing the price of transportation fuels at any point in time. That is not on the agenda," Ramnarine said.
This, even as the IMF, following consultation with Finance Ministry officials in June, said Government would need to cut fuel subsidies and cut and rationalise social programmes to ensure there was economic growth.Ramnarine also said yesterday Cabinet had accepted his ministry's recommendations to provide incentives to encourage the adoption and introduction of hybrid and electric vehicles in T&T.He said those incentives, which relate to Motor Vehicle Tax and VAT (Value Added Tax), will be announced by Howai in the budget."The purpose of these incentives is geared towards making hybrids and electric cars more affordable, compared to the gasoline and diesel equivalent. It is estimated that hybrid vehicles are $67,000 to $100,000 more expensive than their gasoline equivalent, thus making them uncompetitive in T&T," he said.
But Ramnarine hopes the impending incentives will encourage the purchase of the low carbon vehicles.Hybrid vehicles, he said, were very popular in the US, Europe and Japan. They use two distinct power sources, one being the traditional internal combustion engine and the other an electric motor powered by batteries. That, he said, resulted in greater energy efficiency and a great reduction in greenhouse gas emissions."In keeping with international best practices and in keeping with the Government's vision to move towards a low carbon green economy, Cabinet has accepted our recommendations for hybrid vehicles," he said.
Low-carbon future ahead
Ramnarine also said his ministry had been working closely with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on transitioning T&T towards a low carbon future. He said hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles would be ideal to help T&T achieve low carbon emissions. He said no infrastructure was required for those vehicles, since hybrid vehicles used fuel more efficiently, so it lasted longer.
The electric car, he said, was charged as easily as plugging in a cellphone charger. However, he said, the car would obviously not use the same amount of energy as the cellphone.
"We have to provide the population with a menu of options, one being CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), one being hybrids and one being electric vehicles. So that is what is really driving this policy. It had been Government's vision for a low carbon economy for T&T," he said.
Ramnarine also announced that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar would formally open the Galeota port today. The port, he said, would be the energy port of the east coast and had been built to provide logistical support for oil and gas companies operating on that coast.Additionally, Ramnarine said, construction of the BP/Technip platform would start in the fourth quarter of 2014, which would resuscitate the platform fabrication industry in La Brea and environs.