Alcoa: It means (US)$100M to TT economy

However, despite this, some 30,000 villagers, who reside from Point Fortin to Icacos, are protesting against it saying that the plant would bring destruction to the environment as well as their health. The construction of the plant, which is expected to start in 2008, would also mean that there would have to be a relocation process.

The Government invited Alcoa, a foreign-based company, to construct a smelter plant in the Chatham area, which is also earmarked for an industrial estate.

Although the site for the proposed smelter encloses about 1,500 acres, it was said that only about one-third of the land will be used to erect buildings.

Alcoa has signed an agreement in principle with the government to build and operate a modern, low-emission aluminium smelter with energy to be supplied from the country’s vast natural gas reserves.

Alcoa estimates that its annual contribution of approximately US$100 million to the economy (when the smelter is operational) can be obtained from consumption of between 4.6 percent and 6.6 percent of the total gas reserves produced by the country over the next 30 years.

According to Alcoa, if the smelter project goes ahead, the economic activity it will create will help develop new education, training, and employment opportunities in the region. It is also expected to contribute to the overall development and enhancement of community facilities, such as roads, schools, hospitals, and sporting and cultural facilities in the area.

It was also stated that the project would employ 750 to 800 people, with many more jobs being created as the economy around the smelter grows. Employment during the two-year construction period would likely average about 1,500 people. The Environmental Management Agency (EMA), when informed about the smelter plant, raised some serious concerns.

The concerns raised were: Improper storage and handling of the waste which could cause significant long-term contamination to the environment; the permanent change in the land use from farming to industrial impermeable surfaces, which may have an impact on the rate of run-off, or on the aquifer, especially in the areas earmarked for estate expansion.

The risk of bio-accumulation and contamination of fish stocks and to the aquifer, below the proposed industrial estate which supplies water to the south-west peninsula, so that the whole region could possibly be affected. Also, it may cause serious health risks upon long-term exposure to these gases and volatile organic compounds.

Villagers claimed that they did not want to be sidetracked by all the listed benefits the smelter plant would bring them and the country’s economy.

For most, if not all of them, the construction of the smelter plant is the beginning of the end.

Recently, only a mere 80 villagers, led by former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, held an eight-day march to protest the construction of the plant. The march took place from Cedros to Port-of-Spain.

A post-mortem report on the protest march stated that there was a poor turnout of participants.

Rikki Undheim, committee member of the Chatham/Cap-de- Ville Environmental Group confirmed to Newsday that the turnout was not what they had expected. “It is the culture of villagers to remain behind closed doors. They are not accustomed to protesting publicly about anything,” Undheim said.

Villager Samdaye Holass, 74, of Chatham said that she strongly objected to the plant.

“I sickly and can’t walk good. I can’t see why they want to build a smelter plant here. It ain’t good for the children’s health,” Holass said.

Holass revealed that over the past 60 years villagers from Chatham to Icacos lived as one big happy family. Most of them, she said, were involved in agriculture while the rest were into fishing.

She forecasted great destruction of the area if the smelter plant is constructed.

“All the plants, fishes and everything will die, including our means of survival, our livelihood,” she added.

Plantain farmer, Stephen Johnetty, 56, of Coromandel Village, pleaded with the Government to instead, develop the agricultural and fishing industry.

“This peninsula is like an eco-park, clean air to breathe and rich natural resources, both on land and sea. The Government should develop that, instead of something that is going to be so hazardous,” Johnetty said.

“Our paradise, in this end of the island, would not after all be a paradise, but, a graveyard. What currently exists in this paradise is beautiful and exotic animals and birds; healthy and chemical-free crops, and most of all a peaceful and laid back environment where everybody is one another’s keepers, despite creed or race. Thanks to all responsible for the destruction of our paradise,” an emotional Johnetty added.