Ammonia plant for Caroni lands?

GOVERNMENT’s restructuring programme for Caroni (1975) Limited is likely to look something like this :  heavy industry will sit next to the Point Lisas Industrial Estate while light industrial development is being targetted for several sites including Dow Village, Reform, Harmony Hall, Preysal, Endeavour and Factory Road, in Chaguanas. According to Uthara Rao, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Estate Management and Business Development Company Limited, out of the 77,000 acres of land owned by Caroni, residential and commercial development is being targetted for several sites including Caroni Savannah Road, Egypt Village in Chaguanas, Beaucarro in Mc Bean, Waterloo, Couva, Balmain, and Endeavour. Rao made the comments while addressing a Business Opportunities Seminar organised by the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce, at the Cara Suites and Conference Centre, Claxton Bay, last week. He drew attention to the Chamber of an expression of interest from a US-based Company called Moore Ammonia that was keen in establishing a company in the country seeking to acquire land to start construction in order to streamline production by the end of 2004. Rao added that similar opportunities are forthcoming from several other investors and Moore Ammonia is one among them. He noted that this shall create additional jobs and encourage our domestic private sector to take advantage of these downstream opportunities and also to utilise the estate in a more productive manner. 

He told the breakfast gathering that some 25,000 acres of land out of the 72,000 acres would be leased to the restructured sugar manufacturing company to meet the requirements of the downsized operations. He projected that the sugar industry will be looking at an annual target of 75,000 tonnes of sugar. Rao stressed that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago had agreed in principle to restructure Caroni so that the sugar industry would be scaled down with Caroni being “confined to its core function as a sugar manufacturer only and with all sugar cane to be cultivated by farmers.” “This is necessarily only a first step in the right direction,” Rao stressed. The Chairman and CEO of the Estate Management Company said that the EMBDC would now have available approximately 52,000 acres of land for utilisation by way of investment in various developmental projects. As a first phase approximately 11,000 acres have been earmarked for the development of small businesses in order to fulfil the mandate and discharge the responsibility by the EMBDC, he said. Rao noted that as part of the initial component of the restructuring programme, this company has been quick off the mark developing strategic alliances with the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation Limited (Plipdeco) and the Tourism and Industrial Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (TIDCO) in order to fast track the initiatives of the Estate.

Rao told the audience that the EMBDC has been moving aggressively to implement its mandate and has already identified strategic locations for land development. He explained that this would no doubt facilitate new business activity not only in the Couva and Point Lisas areas but in the country as a whole. In the first phase of development some 175 acres have been earmarked for commercial development, 250 acres for industrial and light manufacturing , 400 acres for residential estates and 600 acres for agricultural estates. All of these sites will be established in South and Central on Caroni Lands, he said. He stressed that the EMBDC would undertake the necessary infrastructural development and in the process would meet all the Environmental and Town and Country Planning requirements for such projects. Rao explained that the distribution of lands for agricultural, industrial, residential and commercial purposes would follow basically the procedure as laid down by the EMBDC which includes - circulation of an invitation to request for land acquisition; provision of documents to potential investors; submission of proposals by potential investors. It will also involve technical and financial evaluation of proposals by the company, notification to bidders of their selection; and allotment of sites and the execution of an agreement. He explained that the EMBDC has been taking steps to have the necessary legislation drafted for the vesting of the Caroni lands in the State.