New protest action stalls smelter work again

Camille Bethel cbethel@trinidadexpress.com
Tuesday, June 2nd 2009
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business?id=161485142

A fresh wave of protest action by La Brea residents trying to force the State to give them the homes they want in exchange for relocation, stalled construction work on the Alutrint aluminium smelter again yesterday.

Many of the protesters were the residents of Square Deal Corner, who refused to accept keys to houses offered to them in Debe.

The residents, whose homes must be demolished to make way for the plant's construction on the Union Industrial Estate, want the Housing Development Corporation homes built in San Fernando instead.

They were joined by residents protesting the noise and dust being kicked up by the preparation work for the smelter plant. Support also came from environmentalist Dr Peter Vine.

The protesters said their Member of Parliament, Fitzgerald Jeffrey, had done nothing to help their cause. Jeffrey said the criticism was unfair.

"I was the person who led the struggle for the smelter to come to La Brea because of the high levels of unemployment in the area. So as an MP who cares, I would be a real fool to go against it now," he said.

During the protest, a new issue emerged, with claims that Alutrint is in breach of an agreement that prevents it from beginning work at the site until all the residents are appeased.

As police moved to stop the demonstration, protesters showed what they said was a copy of an Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) report that stated: "All final negotiations for the acquisition of all properties and compensation shall be completed before the commencement of all works."

Alutrint's corporate communication manager, Josieann Richards, could not be reached by telephone or e-mail yesterday.

Alutrint's alleged breach of the CEC, Jeffrey said, was partly the fault of area residents, because they are refusing to take the relocation offers.

"I am in touch with what is taking place in the area. Infrastructure work has been done in Guapo but the houses are not yet built. The houses in Debe are ready to be occupied," he said.

He asked whether residents wanted the smelter project to stop while their new homes were being built.

Jeffrey said he was aware of the dust and noise problems in the area because "there are some contractors that are flouting the speed limit and raising the dust, but we are dealing with that problem".

The protest is expected to continue today.