Smelter plant 'good to go'

...Alutrint to get US$100m loan balance by early April
Louis B Homer South Bureau
Wednesday, February 4th 2009
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business?id=161434187

Despite the global economic meltdown, the multi-billion-dollar Alutrint smelter plant at La Brea has secured financing and will be built.

"At the end of March or early April, the company will receive the balance of US$100 million loan from the Exim Bank of China," Philip Julien, Alutrint Trinidad's chief executive officer, said.

The State-controlled China Exim Bank is the world's largest credit agency.

Julien said: "The original loan is US$400 million. The first instalment of US$300 million was approved in July 2008, and the balance of US$100 million will be signed over to the company by representatives of Alutrint and the Ambassador for the People's Republic of China. We are good to go," said Julien.

His comments on the state of the company have come on the heels of a statement by Energy Minister Conrad Enill last week that Sural of Venezuela, which has a 49 per cent shareholding, had ducked out of the smelter arrangement.

The other 51 per cent is held by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

Speaking to the media during the energy conference at the Hyatt Regency hotel, Port of Spain, Enill said, "Alutrint was one of the companies where one of the partners had withdrawn their financial support."

The Express has learnt that Sural is not the financier of the project.

"The money for the project is coming from China," said a source and " shareholding has nothing to do with the impact or the viability of the project which is on course."