OPPOSITION Leader Portia Simpson Miller has given former industry minister Phillip Paulwell and former junior minister Kern Spencer until Monday, November 5 to produce a detailed report on the Cuban light bulb programme, following the revelation in Parliament that $114 million has already been paid to distribute the ‘free fluorescent bulbs’.

Energy Minister Clive Mullings told the House Tuesday that if other invoices submitted are honoured, expenditure for the distribution of the Cuban bulbs will amount to nearly $280 million.

Mullings also called into question the lack of proper procurement procedures under the project with the involvement of two companies – Universal Management and Development Company Limited and Caribbean Communications and Media Network Limited – to which nearly $90 million was paid.

Simpson Miller, in a party statement yesterday, said that she had taken note of the investigations to be conducted by both the auditor general and the contractor general regarding the energy-saving programme.

Simpson Miller added that she is “treating the statements in and out of Parliament by minister of energy Clive Mullings very seriously”.

She said that following the reports by Paulwell and Spencer she would “determine what further action is necessary at that time”.

The opposition leader said it was “unfortunate that such an effective energy-saving programme for Jamaican households representing co-operation between the Cuban and Jamaican governments should come into question because of the process of its implementation”.

In the meantime, Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica Gisela Garcia Riviera yesterday told the Observer that she was prepared to comment on the controversial programme once she was supplied with information by the authorities probing the issue.