LAST WEEK'S coordinated attacks against security personnel overshadowed an important development in the local bauxite/alumina industry. Ground was broken at the Jamalco alumina refinery at Halse Hall in Clarendon for a US$800 million (J$49 billion) expansion project. This is the single largest expansion project in the more than 50-year history of the bauxite/alumina industry in Jamaica. The project also represents the largest single investment in the local economy.
The injection of US$800 million into the industry is a major vote of confidence by foreign investors in the local economy as well as in the overall health of the global aluminium industry into the foreseeable future.
The Prime Minister, who was on hand to break ground at this historic occasion, rightly regarded this major investment as a stimulus for increased inflows of foreign direct investment into the Jamaican economy.
Undoubtedly, the Jamalco expansion will create employment in construction and other areas and will have a positive spin-off effect on business activity. We must grasp the opportunity to invest in training the workforce, who will be critical to the sustainability of the project, and these employees must be encouraged to adopt and adapt responsible attitudes that go beyond their own short-term interests.
Not to be overlooked is the salutary effect the project will have on rural development from skills aquisition by employees to the building of infrastucture that will serve the interests of communities in close proximity to the plant.
But even as we welcome this important project, we must not ignore the fact that bauxite is a non-renewable resource whose extraction comes with significant environmental costs. A responsible Government must therefore plan carefully for a future without bauxite.
The Jamalco expansion, which will move the ownership of the ALCOA affiliate backing it from 50 per cent to 70 per cent, has come in response to the removal of the 30-year-old bauxite levy which was done to encourage investment in the sector.
The levy was never specifically used to finance alternative sustainable development projects as was intended, but instead was consumed in general revenue even as the debt burden continued to rise.
A portion of the returns to the Government from this major expansion project should therefore be carefully earmarked for sustainable development projects with special concerns for the needs and past neglect of rural Jamaica. This arrangement should be promptly made perhaps even to the extent of institutionally sequestering the funds away from the day-to-day budgetary requirements of the Government.
It is equally imperative that the Jamalco expansion be protected from extortion by criminal elements who have plagued other development projects like Highway 2000.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
