Chinese workers still being paid

By FELICIA RAMPERSAD Tuesday, June 23 2009
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,102539.html

THE 200 Chinese workers brought in to construct the controversial Alutrint aluminium smelter in La Brea, are still being paid their salaries, despite the fact that all construction was halted in the face of a High Court ruling last week.

This was confirmed by an Alutrint source who said the workers who are employed with China Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC), are living at the La Brea site and are presently completing construction of their living quarters.

“It is part of their Engineering and Procurement Contract (that they be paid) but I cannot say if their pay will be suspended,” the source said. Construction of the smelter was halted following last week’s High Court ruling by Justice Mira Dean-Armorer who found the process by which the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) had approved the Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) to facilitate the plant’s construction, was flawed. “There is still some minor work to do at the living quarters and this week we would know for sure of any further developments. In the meantime, the workers are staying right there and that is why some people have reported seeing Chinese workers on site,” the source added. “We do not know what action will be taken, but as soon as something definite is decided, we will inform the media,” the official said. Alutrint communications manager, Josie Ann Richards, said that it was too early to determine what would be the next step. She said: “We imagine that the EMA would be filing an appeal but it is too early to say what the next step would be,” Richards said. EMA communications manager, Nayantara Gayah-Hassan said yesterday that the company would issue a release before the end of this week. Meanwhile, La Brea villagers yesterday continued their vigil at the entrance to the smelter construction site and even erected another tent. Villagers expressed concern about dust emanating from the construction site where workers, among them some of the Chinese labourers, are building the Trinidad Generation Unlimited, a power plant at a cost of US$786 million, which will generate the electrical power needed to operate the smelter. Ironically, Prime Minister Patrick Manning visited La Brea to turn the sod for the construction of this power plant days before Justice Dean-Armorer’s ruling and his entourage was greeted by dozens of protestors, one of whom, jumped onto the tray of a van transporting La Brea MP Fitzgerald Jeffrey to the site. Speaking about the protestors during the ceremony, PM Manning brushed off the protest saying it was being staged by environmentalists and does not have the support of the wider La Brea community.