Alcoa
on jobs: T&T lacks smelter experience
By Asha Javeed
Trinidad
Guardian
Port
Spain
Petroleumworld.com
08 27 06
US-aluminium smelter giant, Alcoa, said while it
intends to employ about 750-800 locals to work in
its proposed smelter plant, its initial intake would
only be about 520 people (65 per cent).
Wade
Hughes, Alcoa's director of public strategy, told
a media meeting yesterday that it was unlikely that
Alcoa would initially employ 100 per cent locals.
He
said while workers would have industrial experience,
they did not have smelting experience so Alcoa would
look to hire about 65 per cent and gradually increase
this to about 90-plus per cent.
Hughes
had noted that T&T stood to benefit from the
US$1.5 billion, 341,000 metric-tonne per year, aluminium
smelter plant by jobs and infrastructure.
Questioned
whether T&T would gain in this trade—Alcoa
will benefit from low “Government assured”
gas prices —Hughes said the long-term benefit
would be the strengthening of the local economy.
“If
the Government did not want us here, we wouldn’t
be here,” said Hughes who refused to go into
details about the price of gas being negotiated
with the Government or whether they had an assurance
from Government on a consistent supply.
“The
price of gas is one element and Government has requested
that it be made confidential,” he told media.
Energy
Minister Dr Lenny Saith had said when the two aluminium
smelters are built, they would use less than two
per cent of the country’s natural gas production
and while Alcoa will be paying a relatively low
price for the gas it was important that gas prices
be looked at in the context of what it does for
the country.
The
meeting was held to discuss the Environmental Management
Authority’s draft terms of reference.
Hughes
said two meetings are scheduled to take place to
review the draft terms of reference for the proposed
billion-dollar smelter—at the Chatham Youth
Centre and St John’s Ambulance Hall, Port-of-Spain,
on Wednesday and Thursday respectively at 5.30 pm.
Alcoa
is hoping to have all public input by September
1 before its meeting with the EMA on September 8.
Questioned
about a statement made by Randy Overbey, Alcoa’s
president of Primary Metals Development on whether
the company would hire private security after receiving
death threats, Hughes said the company would depend
on the law enforcement agency “to provide
law and order.”
Trinidad Guardian
Wednesday
23rd August, 2006
Copyright
©2005-2006 Trinidad Publishing. All Rights
Reserved.
