Ebon Atoll Sen. John Silk said Ebon residents are being penalized because the national government is “playing politics” with solar equipment donated by Taiwan that was supposed to be delivered and installed on Ebon.
But national government officials responded that the cabinet recently changed the priority list for outer islands solar installation, and the Ministry of Resources and Development and the Marshalls Energy Company are simply carrying out that decision. Officials also said that since donor-provided solar equipment started being installed in the outer islands in 2001, the cabinet has always decided which islands get priority, and the current and past administrations have often prioritized islands represented by members of their political party.
But Silk, the minister for resources and development in a government that was ousted in a November 2007 national election, said the government is in breach of contract with Ebon because it offered to install another 90 units to complete an earlier partially completed installation project if Ebon paid the $100 installation fee per unit. Ebon Atoll Local Government made the $9,000 payment in June last year, and the Marshalls Energy Company, which handles installation of the equipment, accepted the money.
“We have the statutory authority to sue, and we have a valid cause of action,” Silk said Friday. “Should the Council give its authorization, Mayor Lajang Kabua and I will bring this law suit unless the government, through the Ministry of Resources and Development and the Marshalls Energy Company, delivers on its contract with the Council and people of Ebon.”
Silk said the Ebon Council and community members who met in Majuro earlier in the week unanimously approved a lawsuit, and the mayor is flying to Ebon shortly to confirm this with Council members there before a suit is filed.
Resources and Development Secretary Tommy Kijiner, Jr. said the cabinet has always had the authority to set the solar priority list. “When Senator Silk spoke with the minister (Fred Muller) and me about this, we were operating under the previous cabinet minute (in which Ebon was a priority atoll),” Kijiner said. “The cabinet changed the list a couple of months later. It’s my role to carry out the cabinet’s directives.”
Marshalls Energy Company officials said they are happy to refund the money to the Ebon Council. But Silk is adamant that “Ebon will never ask for a refund of its money, nor will it ‘play politics.’ Rather, we intend to sue the Ministry of R&D and MEC for breach of contract.”
While Silk was in cabinet, his atoll as well as others, including some of party members and some for opposition senators, were on the priority list.
Soon after a new government took office in early 2008 administration, it prioritized solar installations for atolls represented by its party members.
Officials said there are not enough Taiwan-donated solar units on hand to accomplish all households on the islands currently on the priority list.
About 200 are left, with 280 needed for the five islands on the new priority list.
Kijiner said the whole dispute could be moot in the near future. He said that new European Union funding is supposed to come on line soon, and “if cabinet sees fit to use most of it for solar, we can complete the entire Marshall Islands.”
More than half of the households on remote outer islands have received home solar units to date, Kijiner said. “More than 1,600 home units have been on the outer islands at a cost of $7.5 million and $8 million,” he said.
Taiwan has been the major donor of solar equipment, with some donated by the European Union and France.
