TRINIDAD'S AGREEMENT with Alcoa to build an aluminium plant could be good for Jamaica's bauxite/alumina industry, says Parris Lyew-Ayee, general manager of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute.
Trinbidad and Tobago's Government and the world's largest aluminium company, Alcoa, on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a $1 billion aluminium smelter plant, the Trinidad Express reported yesterday. Trinidad has been attempting to attract an aluminium smelter for the last 30 years, when it was first broached by Jamaica's former prime minister Michael Manley in consort with then Guyana president Forbes Burnham.
"We will give them every support," Mr. Lyew-Ayee said. "We would welcome and support that move."
The plant will have a minimum capacity of 250,000 metric tonnes per annum. The exact size and cost for the overall venture will be determined when the project plan is finalised next year.
STICKING POINT
The sticking point for the deal in the past was that Trinidad has not been able to provide electricity at prices which were competitive with cheaper sources of supply like hydro-electricity, The Express said. In expanding its natural gas industry however, the government negotiated a deal with BP for the petroleum company to provide gas for a 15-year period to be used in the provision of electricity. This deal allowed Trinidad to offer electricity to Alcoa at a price competitive with other sources of cheap electricity.
"Conceptually it is a marvellous programme," Mr. Lyew-Ayee said. As well, he said, "It is good for the region."
The MoU also calls for Alcoa to take at least a 60 per cent ownership stake in the smelter with the National Energy Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Gas Company determining the investors for the next 40 per cent. Trinidad Energy Minister Eric Williams told a news conference that the government will make an equity investment in the smelter but it was also open to other interests including Caribbean governments investing in the smelter project.
