PCJ Comes To An End; Energy Minister Rationalizes The Closure

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Fayval Williams has responded to opposition’s call for justifications surrounding the recently announced closure of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) shutting its doors.

In a statement, Shadow Minister of Mining and Energy, Mr. Phillip Paulwell said the government must provide a detailed statement on the way forward and how the Ministry could take on the functions of the PCJ while simultaneously absorbing the responsibilities of the NESoL, a decision announced by the Prime Minister some months ago.

Yesterday Minister Williams confirmed that the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology would be taking on the functions of the PCJ.

She went on to say that the “The functions of PCJ will be subsumed into the ministry, and skilled professionals will be required,” she said, underscoring that some jobs could be retained during the process.

Williams also argued that the move was consistent with the ongoing effort of the Government to rationalise public-sector bodies. The administration announced back in 2017 that some 84 public entities would be either closed, merged, or divested in the public’s interest.

“The Government of Jamaica has an ongoing rationalisation plan of public bodies. It is incumbent upon the Government to continually look at its public bodies to decide their usefulness, to make decisions about whether they are taken back into the parent ministry, whether or not they are privatised, whether or not they are closed, and no entity is out of bounds for that consideration,” the energy minister had told the Parliament in responding to Paulwell.