US$20
million ethanol plant being built, employment for
locals coming
By Radhica Sookraj
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
11 19 06
A
US$20 million ethanol dehydration plant is now under
construction at Pointe-a-Pierre and is expected
to bring substantial foreign exchange to T&T.
So
said managing director of EthylChem Ltd Patrick
Johnson in an interview. Johnson said the plant
is being constructed on the western end of the Pointe-a-Pierre
refinery in south Trinidad.
“Construction
has already started and we expect to have the plant
fully on stream by April next year,” Johnson
said. He added that EthylChem will hire all of its
labour force from T&T. He said 135 people will
be employed during the construction phase while
18 people will be directly employed during operations.
Johnson
said Petrotrin will be paid for use of its infrastructure.
The plant is expected to process ethanol which is
being imported from Brazil.
Executive
director of EthylChem Ronald White explained that
there should be no cause for concern over pollution.
“We will be operating one of the cleanest
plants in the world and there will be no pollution
for T&T.”
He
explained that Petrotrin will eventually own the
plant once EthylChem’s 15-year lease had ended.
Asked whether the plant will then be obsolete, White
said, “No.” He said the plant will have
a lifespan between 30 to 45 years.
White
also said that all of the processed ethanol will
be shipped to the United States. Representative
of EthylChem’s investment bankers Travis Windholz
said because of the stringent environmental laws
in the United States, they have not built a plant
in the United States for over 30 years.
White
explained that they decided to build the ethanol
dehydration system plant in Pointe-a-Pierre because
it was economically profitable to construct the
plant in Trinidad. He said if construction had taken
place in Brazil, EthylChem would have been forced
to pay additional duties.
Johnson
said EthylChem would bring between US$150 million
to US$200 million into the local economy each year
once production begins.
The
Trinidad Guardian
Friday 17th November, 2006
Copyright
©2006 The Trinidad Guardian . All Rights Reserved.
