MARKETING LABIDCO

The La Brea Industrial Estate which was rejected in 1995 by the United National Congress Administration as a possible site for Atlantic LNG’s then projected liquefied natural gas plants has emerged as a viable alternative to Point Lisas. On Thursday, Prakash Saith, Chief Executive Officer of the National Energy Corporation (NEC), owner of the industrial estate was at work marketing it to members of the Trinidad and Tobago Chambers of Commerce. NEC is a subsidiary of the National Gas Company (NGC), a company with a vested interest in having energy based companies attracted to this country. Meanwhile, NEC’s assets also include the Point Lisas channel and harbour, Savonetta Piers One, Two, Three and Four and the ISCOTT dock among others.

Gone are the 1995 induced fears of the feasibility of the La Brea Industrial Park. Saith, whose immediate audience comprised local businessmen, while speaking to them, was also addressing through them a wider international market, with the move nine years ago to block the industrial park becoming a reality, a hiccough almost forgotten. Meanwhile, the area of the Los Bajos Fault which ran through the site and had provoked areas of concern has been excluded, along with room for a buffer zone, from the final plans for the industrial estate. This has trimmed the area down from an originally proposed 1,000 acres to its size today of 900 acres. In turn, two critical marketing points with respect to the estate is that its Phase One already has ten clients and had previously housed an oil refinery as well as two storage tanks. In turn, several additional clients have been lined up. What is of importance is that Point Lisas and the La Brea Industrial Company (LABIDCO) which runs the La Brea Industrial Estate are in friendly rather than aggressive competition.

The markets are there, and although by no means captive, are attracted to Trinidad and Tobago and the industrial estates by the ready availability of relatively cheap natural gas, the country’s social stability, a bankable work force and their shore front locations. The present development of the La Brea Industrial Estate will ease the pressure on Government to allocate agricultural and other land at the old Caroni (1975) Limited for the industrial expansion at Point Lisas. Additionally, the La Brea Industrial Estate, during the construction of plants there and beyond, will provide needed employment for scores of young people in the area, many of whom today are either unemployed or underemployed. And in a larger sense it will mean additional revenue for Trinidad and Tobago, and with it the chance to expand the country’s social services.