For sale

The Freundel Stuart Government has decided it wants to sell the $75 million Barbados National Terminal Company Limited (BNTCL) in Fairy Valley, Christ Church.

And according to highly-placed sources, it would prefer to sell up to 65 per cent of it to a reputable, suitably qualified local or regional company “with the required market and distribution infrastructure”; and just short of 35 per cent to the Barbadian public, while retaining a single “golden share” that would allow it significant influence over future decisions of the entity.

Government is also insisting that the major purchaser have enough resources to be able to take up any percentage of the 35 per cent the public does not buy.

To ensure there was no security risk to the country’s oil supply, the source revealed, the Government would move to have the sold entity covered under essential services legislation, include a right of first refusal to the state if the majority owner wishes to sell, and give the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) power to set margins for wholesalers and retailers, actual prices at the pump for gasoline, diesel and kerosene as well as liquefied petroleum gas; along with storage fees for crude oil.