Activists eager to greet PM at Alutrint

Camille Bethel cbethel@trinidadexpress.com
Tuesday, June 9th 2009
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business?id=161488349

When Prime Minister Patrick Manning attends the official unveiling ceremony of a power plant to supply Alutrint's aluminium smelter at La Brea tomorrow, he can expect a greeting from protesting anti-smelter activists and disgruntled residents.

The protesters have set up camp near the entrance to Alutrint's construction site on the Union Industrial Estate, and were preparing yesterday for Manning's visit.

"We will be here when the PM arrives just like we have been for the past week and more. We're not moving now," one resident said yesterday.

Environmental engineer Cathal Healy-Singh believes the "ground-breaking ceremony", as it has been dubbed, is just a strategy to make things seem more advanced than they really are.

Healy-Singh, who is opposed to the smelter, said the State wanted it to appear that the smelter was a done deal but demonstrators would show otherwise.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the TGU Combined Cycle Power Plant is scheduled to take place at the Union Estate from 10 a.m. tomorrow, a statement from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries stated.