Smelter
equipment coming
Trinidad & Tobago Newsday
Petroleumworldtt.com
04 06 08
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photo »EQUIPMENT IS on the way to Trinidad
from China for the construction of the country’s
first aluminum smelter plant, the Alutrint Smelter.
Prime
Minister, Patrick Manning made the announcement
Friday night at the gala commissioning of the 428-room
Hyatt Regency Trinidad, Port-of-Spain. Manning
also announced that construction on the country’s
second iron and steel complex is slated to commence
by August.
Manning
said, “We will initiate construction
of our first aluminum smelter...in fact equipment
is now on the water from China.”
In
quick succession, the Prime Minister listed a
string of development plans, including the new
port in the capital city which he said has attracted
bidders from around the globe and is to be completed
in three years, a $25 billion transportation highway
upgrade over the next eight years, the ongoing
construction of the Performing Arts Academies,
Govern-ment Campus and the establishment of the
country’s first national philharmonic orchestra,
in tandem with plans for performance arts.
He made the statements before a large VIP audience
including President George Maxwell Richards and
his wife, Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards, Government
Ministers, Jamaica Prime Minister, Bruce Golding,
Caricom Secretary General, Dr Edwin Carrington
and executive chairman of the Urban Development
Corporation UdeCOTT, Calder Hart.
Turning to the recently launched G-pan, which
was used by the National Steel Symphony on Friday
night, Manning boasted of its range, tone, size,
standardisation and metalurgical qualities, adding
that it represents a quantum leap over what existed
before.
“So much so that I am in a position to say
that the days of the oil drum as an instrument
are no more, those days have passed,” he
said.
Manning noted that the time had come to give young
people a recreational alternative and Government
commissioned the establishment of the band, Divine
Echoes.
“We invested heavily in that, in fact about
$1 million worth of instruments... and from the
quality of music we have heard... they will succeed
in the purpose for which they were established,” he
said.
Hart
said that successive governments “since
1995 all agreed and placed priority on the development
of the Port-of-Spain International Waterfront Project,” of
which the Hyatt Regency is a part.
“Thirteen years ago when we successfully
completed the negotiations for the siting of the
ACS headquarters the decision was taken that this
site would be home to high quality office accommodation
and a luxury hotel and conference centre,” Hart
said.
Of the Waterfront Project which drew heavy public
skepticism and began without a sod turning ceremony,
Manning said it constitutes the largest building
construction project ever undertaken in Trinidad,
two 26-storey buildings, each floor providing 15,000
square feet of space, the 428-room Hyatt Regency
Hotel, the largest conference centre in the English-speaking
Caribbean, 1,200 car park stalls, a waterfront
promenade which will be open to the public of TT,
making Port-of-Spain a waterfront city akin to
Sydney, Australia.
“At a total cost of $1.85 billion excluding
VAT and finance charges, in addition to say that
the project has been conducted and delivered on
time and within budget,” Manning said.
Construction at the Waterfront commenced in August
2005.
Story
by Roxane Staplenton-Whyms from Trinidad & Tobago
Newsday
Trinidad & Tobago
Newsday
Sunday, April 6 2008
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