Govt,
Alcoa seek new location
By Juhel Browne
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
02 11 07
Alcoa and the Government are still trying to identify
a new location for the company's proposed US$1.5
billion aluminium smelter plant originally set for
construction in Cap-de-Ville/Chatham.
In
an exclusive interview yesterday, Alcoa Trinidad
and Tobago director Wade Hughes said the relocation
talks are to continue over the next few months.
Hughes
was speaking three days following Prime Minister
Patrick Manning's statement that the Government
expects construction to start on one smelter this
year with two in full operation by 2012 in his address
to the Eighth Summit of the African Union in Ethiopia,
Africa, on Monday.
"We
will be talking to the Government in the coming
months about a site selection process and the other
issues that need to be negotiated," Hughes
said, adding that an Alcoa delegation met with the
Government earlier this year.
He
said those other issues include all the commercial
arrangements, chief among them the price of the
natural gas to be used to supply the electricity
required for the plant.
Following
Manning's announcement on Monday, Hughes was asked
if Alcoa expects to begin construction of its smelter
this year and he said: "In light of the Government's
position to discontinue plans for the industrial
development of the Cap-de-Ville site, our site specific
work in Trinidad has been discontinued. It will
recommence once an agreement upon site has been
identified and developed by the government. We expect
it will be a number of years before we could expect
to see an Alcoa aluminium smelter in Trinidad,"
Hughes said.
In
his 2006 Christmas Day message Manning announced
a Cabinet decision to a cancel the proposed construction
of a smelter in Cap-de-ville/Chatham.
The
Cabinet decided to accelerate development of a new
industrial estate offshore Otaheite Bank where "aluminum
production can now be pursued", together with
other industrial plants.
Hughes
gave no indication that a new location for its proposed
smelter has been identified.
"We
won't start site specific work, by that I mean developing
a detailed understanding of any site until a site
has been identified and agreed upon and developed
by the Government. I wouldn't be able to comment
on any site. We are waiting on that process to unfold,"
Hughes said.
He
said Alcoa was not taken by surprise when Manning
made his announcement in his Christmas Day message.
"We'd
certainly been advised that the government was thinking
of relocating us to a different site," Hughes
said.
He
did not, however, say if the Government offered
Alcoa any explanation for its decision.
Trinidad
Express
Friday, February 2nd 2007
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©2006 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
