Manning defends smelter

THE Minister of Planning and Development and not Town and Country Planning Division has the authority to approve land for development in this country.

This from Prime Minister Patrick Manning as he sought to dispel what he termed as “misinformation” surrounding the proposed ALCOA aluminium facility at Cap-de-Ville in south Trinidad.

Speaking to the media after his address to a high-powered breakfast meeting yesterday at Paria Suites in La Romaine, Manning said the smelter plant is designed to ensure maximum compatibility with the natural environment.

The breakfast meeting was attended by Community Development Minister Joan Yuille-Williams, Junior Trade and Industry Minister Diane Suekeran and Ambassador Plenipotentiary Jerry Narace. Several prominent businessmen were also in attendance.

Powerpoint presentations were made by chairman of the National Energy Task Force, Prof Kenny Julien and National Energy Corporation president Prakash Saith.

“We would never enter into something that is incompatible with the environment,” Manning said, reiterating that the plant’s designs were similar to other “smelter-in-the-park” designs in Brazil and Australia. Asked by reporters to comment on a newspaper report which stated ALCOA had not yet received the necessary approval from the Town and Country Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development, Manning said that final approval for the project lay with the line Minister and not the division.

“Town and Country Planning is an advisory to the Minister of Planning and Development, and therefore Town and Country Planning is not an authority in itself,” Manning said.

Manning added, “It is to the Minister of Planning and Development that you turn to when you want to find out who has permission and who doesn’t.

It is the Minister who gives the permission, by law, not Town and Country Planning.” During his address, Manning revealed that the National Transportation plan would be revealed by the middle of August with contracts awarded for the project by November/ December 2006.

He said that the project, which is estimated to cost TT $3.5 billion, would also include a mass transit rail system as well as a new four-lane highway extending to Debe, Penal, Fyzabad, Siparia and Point Fortin. Citing the country’s continued development, Manning said that a new city was being created in East Trinidad given E-Tech’s redevelopment at Wallerfield to include a University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) and light manufacturing industries.