Opinion
- Editorial- Commentary
Wayne
Kublalsingh:
Assignment
for Nunez-Tesheira
In 2001, the authors of the Master Gas Plan for Trinidad
and Tobago, Gaffney, Cline & Associates, called for a "regulatory and control structure" in
the gas sector to protect against "collusive behavior (especially in absence
of anti-trust legislation)".
They warned: "it is evident that
this most critical sector of the national economy
is highly dependent
on the capability and integrity of a handful of industry
professionals. This would be a cause for concern in
any private sector company and should be of considerable
concern to the Government of the Republic of Trinidad
and Tobago."
In support of her determination, as expressed in her
public pronouncements at the end of November 2007,
to ensure transparency and accountability in all State
corporations, the Minister of Finance, Karen Nunez-Tesheira,
must now investigate the economic feasibility and financial
propriety of the State's three foremost new heavy gas-based
mega projects:
1. The proposed Alcoa aluminium smelter;
2. The proposed Alutrint aluminum smelter;
3. The proposed Essar Steel Mill
project.
The losses to the State, incurred mainly in the award
of contracts, in respect of the failed Alcoa Chatham
project require investigation. The blurring of the
National Energy Corporation's cost accounting lines,
and the network of colluding partners, in respect
of the Alutrint project, demand investigation. The
proposed Essar Steel Mill project requires a total
review: what would be the economic benefits of this
project for the people of Trinidad and Tobago?
Ironically, attempts to launch enquiries into each
of these projects have bounced off the protective armour
of the Freedom of Information Act.
In 2006, a Joint Select Committee of Parliament, headed
by the economist Senator Mary King, met with representatives
of the State gas sector and repeatedly called for facts
to prove the economic and financial feasibility of
both the Alcoa and Alutrint projects.
Key representatives of the sector failed to appear;
the officials who appeared failed to provide the facts
and statistics to prove the economic viability of these
projects.
In the absence of detailed facts and figures, deep
analysis is impossible. However, on the basis of general
data available, it is certain that these three projects
would constitute an economic bust for the people, lands
and communities of Trinidad and Tobago.
This economic bust is not difficult to illustrate.
Let us, for example, examine the case of the Indian-owned
Essar Steel Mill. What are the costs of this project,
and what are the benefits to the people? Here is a
simple list of costs:
COSTS TO OUR PEOPLE
1. Essar would get Caroni lands and valuable port
lands which our citizens could use for our development
2. We would be building a port for Essar
3. We would be laying gas lines for Essar
4. We would be providing scarce electrical power for
Essar
5. We would be supplying scarce water for Essar
6. We would be providing scarce gas to Essar at prices
favourable to them
7. Existing gas-based companies would have less gas;
less gas means higher costs of
domestic products and services
8. The health costs would be incalculable: 30 to 30
years of particulate matter (dust); our lungs are in
jeopardy. Carbon monoxide,
nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide also impair health
9. Relocation costs: forced relocation of
residents who have lived in the area for over 25 years
10. Cost of mangrove: one of the last remaining stretches
on the West Coast would be
destroyed to accommodate port
11. Cost of global warming. Essar would emit al most
one billion (1,000,000,000) cubic
metres of carbon dioxide per year
12. Cost to marine life, bathing area, and coast line;
erosion caused by dredging for port would eat into
coastline
BENEFITS FOR OUR PEOPLE
1. Money to Government-amount hidden
2. Jobs: high health-risk jobs
What makes the economic feasibility of this project
even gloomier is that Essar is 100 per cent owned by
Essar India; there is no local ownership.
Second, there is no contract for downstream industries.
Third, more jobs and economic benefits could be created
on the same spot in Claxton Bay, using cleaner industries,
for example, in solar cell technology, or agro-industry.
The costs to the communities are ruinous: Essar would
be located in the centre of a circle of six small
communities, and at the centre of a triangle of polluting
enterprises: the Claxton Bay Dump, the Point Lisas
Estate and the Trinidad Cement Factory Limited. Steel
milling is an acknowledged polluting industry.
The Minister of Finance must now execute. Her demand
for accountability and transparency in State corporations
is perfectly timed. Not a single pile for any of these
three proposed projects has yet been driven into the
ground.
Kindly act now Ms Nunez-Tesheira. Investigate the
State's heavy industrial gas-based agenda.
You could begin by replying to the letter of the residents
of Claxton Bay, dated December 4th 2007, calling for
a meeting with you to discuss concerns about the economic
viability of the Essar Steel Mill project.
Dr Wayne Kublalsingh is
an environmental
activist. Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note: This article was first publish
in Trinidad Express,Thursday, December 27th 2007.
Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest
of our readers.
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Petroleumworld
12/ 30 /07
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