No shacks in Chatham

The residents spoke to Newsday yesterday after the second sitting of a parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC) to query two proposed aluminium smelters in the area.

Chatham resident Fitzroy Beache pointed the finger at the National Energy Company (NEC) which is responsible for establishing industrial sites such as required by the two smelters. He said the NEC had publicised photographs of some shacks which are merely used for shade by residents working on their agricultural lands, but the NEC has ignored the nice houses owned by residents. He distributed these photographs to reporters yesterday.

The pictures showed pleasant two-storey concrete houses fitted with Direct TV satellite dishes and verandahs. This point was underlined during the sitting by JSC member UNC Senator Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan. She held up a photograph of one house.

The group of residents who attended the JSC sitting were scathing of the remarks of Alutrint/NEC representative Vijay Lal. One woman remarked “He was unprepared or unwilling to answer.”

During the sitting Lal said some 70 or 80 houses would have to be relocated due to the construction of the smelters.

He could not say how many houses would lie within the zone that would be affected by emissions from the smelters.