Man
made industrial island could be first of many
By Louis B Homer
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
04 08 07
Saith said NEC's decision to build the 1,400 hectare
estate on the Oropouche Bank, off Otaheite Village,
San Fernando, was as Montano had noted, due to
the shortage of onshore lands for use in industrial
development. The Oropouche Bank meets all the criteria
required for an industrial estate, he said.
"The area is sheltered from
fierce winds and the average three - meter depth
of water at
the Oropouche bank makes it a suitable location
for reclamation."
Saith said the proposed site did not pose any
public occupation conflicts and the discharge of
water from the nearby Oropouche River catchment
did not pose a problem.
The site of the proposed island
which is about 3.5 kilometres from the existing
coastline at Otaheite
was investigated for use as an industrial island
by experts who have stated, "judging from
geological and seismic surveys taken, soil consolidation
and settlement are possible in a short space of
time."
"With modern technology it is possible to
build within a year," Saith said.
He noted that some 56 million cubic
metres of earth fill will be required for the
project. This
amount could be taken from river outfalls in Trinidad
that are at present silted and will help in clearing
substantial amounts of hydraulic fill material
and also help ease drainage problems in the country,
Saith said. "And if more fill is needed that
would not be a problem."
The bank is more than 2,600 hectares and only
1,400 hectares are to be reclaimed. Therefore,
hydraulic fill material can be sourced from the
bank itself, Saith said.
As far as getting permission from
the EMA, Saith said, "an application for
a certificate of environmental clearance was
submitted in November
2005. The EMA visited the site in December 2005,
and it has requested additional information such
as scaled site plans and layouts, details of dredging
and reclamation, and in order to supply the EMA
with the information tenders were invited from
international consultants."
He added: "The preferred tenderer will be
required to provide the data requested by the EMA,
and obtain final terms and reference and conduct
the Environmental Impact Study".
Saith was not in a position to state the cost
of constructing the industrial island.
He said he was unable to give the actual cost
of the project, but he gave a figure of $4 billion
which will be spent over the next five years in
constructing thee industrial estates including
the one at Oropouche. That means three more, possibly
similar man- made ventures are in the works. For
Montano, his dream is coming true in a big way,
probably on a scale he never envisaged.
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday, April 4th 2007
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©2007 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
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