Trinidad is on the verge of witnessing a significant aluminium project getting restarted once the "economics looks good" - assured Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley in an election meeting in Point Fortin on Wednesday. The People's National Movement (PNM) leader said his administration was working on the Alutrint aluminium plant revival plans. Had the construction work on the plant in La bera been not halted in 2009 as a result of a High Court directive, it would have expedited the diversification of the economy.
Rowley cited examples of several countries which have had invested in aluminium plants across the world and were now reaping benefits in terms of solid ROIs. They are currently expanding across the value chain thereby leverage on the strong demand scenario of the metal.
“I was looking at a document recently, and it is this Government's intention to restart an aluminium business in Wallerfield to make motorcar wheels. I saw three or four countries that went into that business after Trinidad and Tobago and guess what? Their business is booming and expanding and they selling alloy wheels to the motor industry of the world and earning foreign exchange. If any opportunity arises for us to import any aluminium ingots, not smelting bauxite, but importing aluminium ingots, and the economics look good, this PNM Government will go back to that business once the numbers look right,” said Rowley.
At the time when Rowley had assumed his office as Prime Minister of Trinidad, a Chinese company approached his chair with a claim for US$200 million. The administration is kown to be now dealing with that.
“Trying to pack it away down to a minimum….the company has now come to Trinidad and met with Minister of Finance yesterday (Tuesday) and outlined in detail all that has happened from the day they got involved with the project until now that they are making this claim,” updated Rowley.
The PNM administration, back in 2009, had entered into a joint veture partnership with Sural, a Venezuelan company, for the development of an aluminium smelter in the La Brea Industrial Estate. The government owned majority stakes (60 per cent) while Sural owned the rest 40 per cent stakes of the project.
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The total cost of construction of the Alutrint aluminium plant was estimated at US$3.375 billion with smelter component amounting to US$1.7 billion. Both the stakeholders had agreed to inject funding into the project. However, US$400 million was borrowed from Exim Bank of China as initial investment of the smelter plant.
The project was halted following a High Court order whereby Justice Mira Dean-Armorer blocked the smelter construction after she found flaws in the certificate of environmental clearance granted by the Environmental Management Authority to Alutrint.
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