Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter

Satisfying Prime Minister Bruce Golding's directive that E10 fuel be made mandatory by next month has been considered unlikely by experts in the gasolene-retail sector. - Kyle Macpherson/Freelance Photographer

GAS STATION stakeholders yesterday labelled as unrealistic a government decision, announced by Prime Minister Bruce Golding, to make it mandatory for motor-vehicle fuel to include 10 per cent ethanol by next month.

Golding made the announcement on Sunday while addressing the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show in Clarendon for the first time as prime minister.

In response to the government directive, Errol Edwards, president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers' Association, told The Gleaner yesterday that it would be unrealistic to meet a September deadline as preliminary work, such as cleaning and washing of the island's petrol stations, has yet to be done.

"I'm not sure if that is possible. There is a lot of work to be done and I haven't seen anything started yet," Edwards said.

No guaranteed price

Golding said the decision came against the background of the new trading arrangements that will govern the export of sugar to Europe, which will come into effect next year.

Addressing the third and final day of the 2008 Denbigh show, the prime minister said while Jamaica would still have guaranteed access to the European market, it no longer enjoyed a guaranteed price.

"It would have been calamitous for the sugar industry were it not for the agreement we have entered into for a partnership with Infinity Bio-Energy of Brazil," he said.

The agreement is a major undertaking that will see much-needed new capital being injected into the sugar industry. He said that under the agreement, less of the country's sugar cane would be going into sugar and more into ethanol.

Golding said negotiations with Coimex of Brazil were at an advanced stage for the acquisition, by the Government, of the ethanol plant currently operated by Petrojam Ethanol Limited.

Possible economic loss

At the same time, one marketing company director, who requested anonymity, said the ramifications if the ethanol project were rushed could put the country at an economic loss.

The director said that if service stations were not properly cleaned and tanks were fuelled with ethanol, feeding this into a motor vehicle could damage an automobile.

"Technically, we don't have enough people to clean all the tanks by September," said the director.

Additionally, it will cost about $400,000 to clean each service-station tank, an expense that will be borne by the gasolene marketing companies.

"It is a disaster coming with all this rush and no proper consultation and technical analysis," the director added.

Golding's announcement came two days after Dr Ruth Potopsingh, managing director of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, was reported in the Financial Gleaner as saying that mandating the use of E10 (a mix of 10 per cent ethanol with fuel) in vehicles here, ahead of Jamaica's application to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's Clean Development Mechanism for the project to be considered for carbon credits, would be bad strategy.

Political strategy

Another marketing company representative, who also requested anonymity, reasoned that the prime minister's announcement might have been political strategy.

"I think with the prices (of petrol) going up, it was just a politically popular idea to rush to say it," said the director.

shelly-ann.thompson@gleanerjm.com