Aluminium
for T&T only
Trinidad
Express
Port Spain
Petroleumworld.com
06 25 06
ALUTRINT
Limited will supply 5,000 metric tonnes a year of
aluminium to the independent downstream industry
in Trinidad and Tobago, the company's managing director
Renda Butler has disclosed.
Explaining
exactly what the 125,000 metric tonnes produced
by the ALUTRINT Complex would be used for, he said:
"All the aluminium will be used locally by
ALUTRINT and 5,000 metric tonnes per year of aluminium
will be made available to the local manufacturing
industry to develop it at the entrepreneurial level."
He
added: "One local company has already expressed
interest in this aspect."
Butler
said none of the raw material produced at the complex
at La Brea would be exported, "One hundred
and twenty metric tonnes would be used to make coils
of rods. Then 60,000 metric tonnes of those coils
would be used to produce wire and cable."
He
explained the process as starting with alumina,
not bauxite, from which it would then be converted
in the smelter to produce aluminium. This aluminium
would then be used in the company's rod mill plant
to produce coils, then a portion of those
rods would be converted at one of the plants to
produce cable and wire.
Butler
said there would be no red dust or mud since ALUTRINT
will not be using any bauxite.
"Overall,
the ALUTRINT Complex will provide approximately
800 permanent, direct jobs; about 500 in the smelter
with approximately 150 in the Rod Mill and another
150 in the Cable and Wire plant.
Butler
said operators of the
Complex
would be Trinidadians with "a few expatriates"Â
working side by side with them for a brief
period and assisting in their training.
He
said that there would be "a lot of indirect
jobs, two to three times the number created directlyÂ
by the ALUTRINT Complex."
Butler
said that most of the maintenance work, transport,
catering and security will be outsourced,
providing further employment opportunities for people
not directly employed at the complex.
He
said since the smelter would require electricity
to convert the alumina into aluminium, an electricity
generating facility would have to be constructed
on the Union Estate site. ALUTRINT would thenÂ
buy the electricity from this facility.
Butler
also explained the reason for choosing Chinese
technology in the construction of the complex. He
said, "The Chinese technology is much more
economical. The People's Republic of China want
to demonstrate that they can meet and even exceed
Western standards because they are trying to enter
the Western market."
He
added that the Trinidad project was "a very
important one" for the Chinese since it would
showcase to this part of the world, the high standard
of modern Chinese technology.
Butler
said that CMEC (the China National Machine and Equipment
Corporation) will build the Complex.
He
stressed that ALUTRINT was not granted a tax holiday
and that "we will pay the rate of full corporate
tax from the first day. There is no tax holiday."
He
said the construction of the complex will have an
immediate and positive impact on the lives
of people in the surrounding communities in the
La Brea area.
"They
will have better services, electricity, water, roads
and improved infrastructure," Butler said.
He
concluded by reiterating that the ALUTRINT project
was a wonderful opportunity for the country to monetize
its gas resources while creating numerous downstream
opportunities and producing jobs in an area where
unemployment is high.
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday,
June 21st 2006
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©2006 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
