More questions have been raised about the future of the state run oil refinery Petrojam.
Government Senator Don Wehby is concerned that it could become a major challenge to keep the entity open.
He says the situation facing Petrojam warrants urgent action by the Government.
“What is the relevance and viability of that entity? And I ask the question - why does the state need to own an oil refinery? I was happy to learn that a special committee chaired by the past president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Christopher Zacca is doing that exercise. We need some timelines as t o when we will get the report from that committee.”
Wehby cautioned that it could become complicated to keep Petrojam operating.
“Based on my limited knowledge of the industry,I have to seriously ask the question about its viability in its current form . The matter is further complicated by the fact that the Venezuelan Government owns 49 per cent of the entity and full alignment will be needed on the decision surrounding the future of the company. I am very concerned that Petrojam could become another burden on the taxpayers of this country - we need to move quickly,”Wehby said.
Meanwhile, the tension from this week's heated debates in the House of Representatives over the States of Emergency and Petrojam scandal spilled over into the Senate yesterday.
It surfaced as the Upper House debated the Income Tax Amendment Act to validate collection of certain taxes from non-residents.
While supporting the Bill, Senator Lambert Brown argued that the opposition is always willing to co-operate with the government as long as what is being proposed is constitutional.He however insisted the opposition would not bow to popular opinion.
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