Essar Steel

Posted Thu, 18/12/2008 - 05:56 by Monique

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Save our Mangrove petition
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/957999809

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Protect our Mangrove, Ace in the hole
http://claxtonbaymangrove.wordpress.com/

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What does the Essar Steel Corporation of India want in Trinidad and Tobago?
http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/what-does-essar-steel-corporation-india-want-trinidad-and-tobago-0

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Your country needs you!

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Fishermen ready to go to court over Claxton Bay port
Carolyn Kissoon South Bureau
Tuesday, July 7th 2009

Claxton Bay fishermen opposed to the construction of an industrial port are prepared to go to court to stop it if the State does not pull the plug on the project, Kishore Boodram, president of the Claxton Bay Fishermen's Association, said yesterday.

Boodram said the fishermen have been holding workshops to sensitise residents on how construction of a port at Claxton Bay will affect their lives.

He said the fishermen have been ignored by the National Energy Corporation (NEC).

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Fishermen slam 'lies' in mailbox
Proposed Claxton Bay industrial port
Carolyn Kissoon South Bureau
Sunday, July 5th 2009

Fishermen were fuming yesterday over a pamphlet being dropped in their mailboxes by the National Energy Corporation (NEC), outlining benefits of the proposed industrial port at Claxton Bay.

Kishore Boodram, president of the Claxton Bay Fishing Association, said the document contained inaccuracies and was misleading to residents.

"This pamphlet was dropped off in residents' mailboxes and is a set of lies. The NEC states that the project would open up 6,000 jobs for residents, but they have never had consultation with us about this," he said.

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Claxton Bay fishermen angry over smelter
By Richardson Dhalai Sunday, July 5 2009

Fishermen, environmental activists and Pranz Gardens residents have accused the National Energy Corporation, (NEC), of misrepresenting the facts surrounding the establishment of a port and steel manufacturing facility at Claxton Bay.

At a press conference held at a makeshift jetty which was constructed by Claxton Bay fishermen, they also burnt a brochure distributed by the NEC in which the company claimed that some 6,000 jobs would be made available during the construction period of both the port and steel plant.

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Chased contractor connected to Essar
Published: April 1st, 2009

The contractor who was chased offsite at Pranz Gardens on March 26 (Guardian, March 27) was trying to take samples of soil to use in designing the foundations for a new overpass. The overpass is intended to carry the Southern Main Road over the top of a new 100-metre-wide industrial corridor. The corridor is intended to link the proposed new port at Claxton Bay, through the mangrove, to the proposed Essar steel plant. The port, industrial corridor, and overpass are intended to be funded by the Government. The port, industrial corridor, and overpass are unnecessary except to facilitate Essar’s proposed steel plant.

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NEC fails to give info on Claxton Bay port
Published: March 25th, 2009

Open letter to Energy Minister Conrad Enill:
Residents and fisherfolk in the general area of the Claxton Bay (100 acres approximately) mangrove system have been asking and demanding information from your state agency, the National Energy Corporation.
This agency has been mandated by your Government to find and develop suitable land and port facilities to continue T&T’s “gas monetisation.” The NEC has failed to produce any information about the cost of the Claxton Bay port and corridor project (which taxpayers will pay for). During a public consultation, a senior official of the NEC refused to give an estimated dollar value to the 40 plus residents.

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Fishermen protest steel mill
By LAUREL WILLIAMS Monday, March 16 2009

MEMBERS of the Fishermen Association and Claxton Bay Resource Protection Group, yesterday joined with villagers in a motorcade to highlight the possible impact on the environment of Government’s proposed steel plant in the area.

About 20 vehicles with fishermen and residents, drove off from Claxton Bay Fishing Depot, at Claxton Bay Junction, from about 2.45 pm, waving banners and placards. They expressed displeasure over the proposed construction of the steel mill by Essar Steel of India in a joint partnership with Government.

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Fishermen give 3-week deadline
Anti-steel mill protest
Nikita Braxton South Bureau

Monday, March 16th 2009

PROTESTERS against the construction of a steel mill in their community are giving authorities three weeks to give proper feedback on the project.

President of the Claxton Bay Fishing Association, Kishore Boodram, said yesterday they have been left in the dark over the progress of construction.

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Soil testing for steel mill and port
Msg from P. Vine
March 11, 2009

For your information, soil testers keep coming to the proposed steel mill / port site at Claxton Bay / Pranz Gardens to try to take soil samples. On at least three occasions recently, including Monday 09 and Tuesday 10 March 2009 around 9 a.m., they came and tried. Sometimes with police, sometimes not. How long will it take them to get the message?

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Steel mill and port will destroy livelihood of 150 fishermen and their families
CALL FOR ACTION - Beginning of Action: 02-03-2009 - End of Action: 13-04-2009

A spot surrounded by residential areas in Claxton Bay on the west coast of Trinidad and Tobago is the destination for a steel mill, which is planned to be built in the near future. In order to provide the necessary transport infrastructure, a large-scale port will also have to be built. The port threatens to inevitably destroy the sensitive natural environment, which feeds 150 fishermen and their families. In addition, the mill will likely subject thousands of people to heavy pollution, and have an adverse impact on crop yields.

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Save-the-mangrove goes online
Published: February 28th, 2009
Ken Ali | 8:30 pm

The Save-The-Mangrove campaign at Claxton Bay has gone international. Popular Internet Web sites YouTube and Facebook are now featuring an environmental drive to seek to preserve some 85 acres of mangrove along the western coastline of Trinidad, in the Gulf of Paria. The cause is also being highlighted on several other Web sites, in addition to being featured by Greenpeace, the global environmental organisation.

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NEC’s Malfeasance

The National Energy Corporation has not received a certificate of environmental clearance to build any industrial port at Claxton Bay. When it applied for a certificate eight months ago the EMA pointed to forty-three deficiencies in its application.

Still, the NEC has gone ahead and signed contracts to build this port. It has built a lay-down yard which now facilitates millions of dollars of materials and equipment. Senior managers and workers, from contracted companies abroad, are now living in Trinidad and Tobago.

Essar Steel and Westlake, two of the major prospective users of the proposed port, are unsure that they will ever build in Trinidad. The NEC’s actions are meant to apply inordinate pressure on the certifying authority.

The NEC officials at a public consultation on Friday 6th February argued strenuously that there is no guarantee that a certificate for the port would be granted by the EMA.

These are the actions and words of a state corporation which has become a law unto itself. It is guilty of malfeasance: “the performance by a public official/authority of an act that is legally unjustified, harmful, or contrary to law; wrongdoing (used especially of an act in violation of a public trust).”

The Attorney General and the DPP should be gravely concerned.

Sincerely
Wayne Kublalsingh

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Steel project to continue despite CLICO trouble
Louis B Homer South Bureau
Monday, February 9th 2009

Despite the collapse of CLICO Investment Bank - the lending agency tasked with financing the Essar steel complex in Claxton Bay - the project will not be abandoned.

Essar Steel Caribbean Limited's (ESCL) chief financial officer, Glenn Cheong, told the Express, "We remain committed to the project."

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$12b steel project in limbo
...on heels of CIB meltdown; rumours of pullout
Richard Charan rcharan@trinidadexpress.com
Saturday, January 31st 2009

The meltdown of Clico Investment Bank has thrown into turmoil one of this country's biggest, single foreign investments-the $12 billion Essar Steel Caribbean Limited (ESCL) project.

Both CIB and Essar were saying, only weeks ago, that the deal was on, and the bank was committed to arranging and managing the financing for the first phase of the project near Pranz Gardens, Claxton Bay.

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President has no 'moral authority' to stop steel mill
Wednesday, December 10th 2008
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=161411225

President George Maxwell Richards on Monday told a delegation of Claxton Bay residents that while he does not have the "moral authority" to halt plans for a steel mill in their area, he would keep informed on the issue.

A group of eleven activists, bearing a petition of 12,000 signatures, met with the President around 9 a.m., where they spoke about their decision not to support the building of a steel mill in Pranz Gardens by Essar Steel and an industrial port by the State in offshore Claxton Bay.

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South and Central fishermen fear their way of life may soon be gone forever
Thursday 14th August ,2008
http://www.guardian.co.tt/archives/2008-08-17/bussguardian3.html
Since Guardian updated their website this link no longer works.

The 100-plus fishermen who earn their livelihood from fishing at Claxton Bay usually toil six days a week.

They have been protesting a proposal by the National Energy Corporation (NEC) to build a port in the area, and joined with the residents of Pranz Gardens to denounce plans for the establishment of the Essar Steel Plant also in the area. They fear the two developments could harm their livelihood.

Kishore Boodram, president of the Claxton Bay Fishermen’s Association (CBFA), understands that development comes with a price. But, in this instance, he’s against the construction of a port.

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