SOME 1,700 young people are being trained by the HEART Trust/NTA to make them eligible for employment under the multibillion-dollar Jamalco plant expansion programme.
While speaking at a stakeholders' breakfast forum held on Friday at Jamalco's Halse Hall location in Clarendon, Alberto Fabrini, managing director, said that 190 welders and 66 electricians were being trained at Jamalco's Breadnut Valley facility in the parish.
PROVIDING A SKILLED, CERTIFIED WORKFORCE
The training of electricians and welders is part of an overall programme being carried out in collaboration with the HEART Trust, to provide a skilled and certified workforce for Jamalco's expansion project, which will be executed over the next two to three years.
"These persons, after being trained, will be the skilled professionals that can work anywhere in the Caribbean and the world, so it's a major achievement," Mr. Fabrini said.
The Jamalco expansion project is a US$1.3 billion (J$85 billion) investment, which should result in the plant doubling its refining capacity, moving from the current 1.25 million tonnes of alumina per year to 2.8 million tonnes. It is expected to take about 28 months for construction and start-up, with another six months for commissioning. The first phase of the project, which should be completed by year-end, will see an upgrade of the company's capacity by approximately 150,000 tonnes.
On May 5, 2005, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson officially broke ground for the expansion project, which represents the single largest investment in the Jamaican economy and also the largest investment in the history of Jamaica's bauxite and alumina industry.
