Linda Hutchinson-Jafar, Contributor
Trinidadian police patrol Frederick Street in Port-of-Spain, just chains away from the capital's Independence Square. - PHOTO BY LEONARDO BLAIR
BILLIONS OF dollars are being pumped into the Trinidad and Tobago economy as massive construction projects are being undertaken throughout the country.
The twin-island state is also set to experience a building boom of epic proportion this year with at least ten energy related projects, some already in the early stages of construction.
State-owned National Energy Corporation (NEC) identified the 10 energy projects for construction this year.
They are the CLICO AUM (Urea, Ammonia,/Melamine), ANSA UAN (Urea, Ammonia, Nitrate), ALUTRINT Aluminium Smelter, ALCOA Smelter, ESSAR Steel, Union Estate Fertilizers, La Brea Nitrogen (Ammonia/UAN), TEIL Ammonia/Urea, Acetic Acid/Formaldehyde and an Ethylene Complex.
New corporate buildings and at least one hotel are springing up throughout Port of Spain and in the second city of San Fernando. Construction of government housing is also continuing apace in various parts of the country. Roads are being repaired and expanded while site preparation for a major highway overpass has started.
Government has given the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) the task of transforming Port of Spain as the financial and business hub of the Caribbean.
One of the largest building projects in Port of Spain is the Waterfront International Development, a 150,000 sq. m. property development comprising two tall blocks of offices and a Hyatt Regency hotel, set to open in late 2007.
Last year, Bouygues Batiment International, a leading construction company in France was awarded a US$265 million design and build contract to undertake the Waterfront International Development.
Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis said the country was attracting many foreign-owned businesses and investors , leading to the stimulation of local businesses and the continued creation of opportunities for economic growth that will generate additional jobs and increased income.
" Within this reality, opportunities abound for hosting regional meetings, conferences and trade negotiations; for property development to create the facilities in which these activities will take place and for developing the transport and communications infrastructure to link them, " she said.
Robinson-Regis said Port of Spain has to be equipped with high quality urban space, efficient and functional services and facilities and an urban experience that offers a safe, attractive alternative to other competing destinations.
With construction busy underway, two issues continue to emerge, the shortage of local labourers and the award of contracts to foreign companies.
CARICOM nationals, along with Chinese and even Latin Americans are coming into the country to work as labourers on the various projects.
The shortage of local labourers is so acute that Port of Spain Contractor Emile Elias claimed that at least one major foreign company was offering extra money as incentive to lure labourers working on another sites.
Government was also pushing contractors to complete the jobs within a given time-frame.
" When we point our that this will almost triple labour costs.... they (government) simply brush that aside. They claim that if the Chinese can do it, so can we," said Elias whose company NH International has a number of government projects.
EIGHT-TO-FOUR MENTALITY
The building contractor said while Chinese workers can work well into the night, local labourers have an eight-to-four mentality, refusing even to work overtime and on weekends.
The local contractors are also fuming that lucrative contracts are being given to foreign builders.
But junior Finance Minister Conrad Enill contends that local contractors still operate " in an archaic mode."
" They refuse to upgrade their thinking as well as their capacities and equipment and if they cannot cope with the targets the government has set with respect to its construction requirements, then we shall have to out-source companies to do the job, " he said.
A number of foreign based companies have also been given contracts to build projects.
Some include Johnston International (Turks & Caicos), design and build for Chancery Lane complex at San Fernando (US$50 million); Bouygues Batiment International (France), through Bouygues Batiment T&T Construction Company-HCL joint venture, (US$265 million); Sunway Construction Caribbean (Malaysia), Government Campus for Ministry of Legal Affairs, Port-of-Spain (US$60 million ); Johnston International, multi-storey car park and retail, Port-of-Spain (US$28 million approx.); Helmuth Obata & Kassabaum. HOK, one of the world's largest architectural firms, based in the USA, design services for the Brian Lara Academy at Tarouba (US$500,000); Shanghai Construction Group, Social Development Towers, Port-of-Spain (US$60 million approx.); China Jiangsu, three housing contracts worth a total of $US12 million.
Works Minister Colm Imbert said there are only about six construction companies in the country that can handle projects valued at between US$15 million - US$48 million.
LOCAL FIRMS
Although government has put out work for local contracting firms, very few submit bids.
Giving an example, Imbert said when government put out a tender to re-pave the runway at Piarco international airport, nine contractors collected the documents. One submitted a tender on time and one other was late.
Imbert wants to encourage upcoming and enterprising businessmen to consider construction as a viable area of investment.
"We have a lot of work, but we do not have enough contractors. The contractors have been telling us, for the past two months, to slow down; that they cannot handle the amount of work that Government is putting in the system.
"Since we have no intentions of slowing down, there is tremendous opportunity for the growth and development for new contractors," he said.
The Works minister some contractors are being awarded eight or nine contracts and are finding it impossible to mobilise. "They simply don't have the capability to do the work," he added.
On the energy front, Chairman of the National Energy Corporation, Prakash Saith said a large number of gas-based projects were taking place in the country this year mainly because they coincide with completion of other key aspects of project development at industrial locations.
" For example, the site at Union Estate will be ready for occupation later this year, and as such the projects to be located at this Estate will be timed to begin construction based on this time-frame and after these plants receive their respective CEC's and gas contracts.
" This is by any standard for this country, an extremely busy year for the start of construction of energy based plants, however, as indicated before, this has to do with the allocation of a site that contains the necessary infrastructure such as utilities, gas lines, ports, etc, " he said.
The projects will be based at the Union Estate in La Brea , at Point Lisas South and one of the proposed smelters at Chatham/Cap De Ville.
Union Estate, 95 percent completed is approximately 300Ha and is earmarked for one 125,000 tonnes per year aluminium smelter, three UAN plants and a 450MW power plant. Design works for a new multi-user port for the three UAN plants have started and is ear-marked for construction by early 2008.
" Now that Union Estate and other sites including Point Lisas Extension will be available this year, there will be a simultaneous start of construction in these large projects, " said Saith.
One of the most expensive energy projects is the proposed US$1.5 billion aluminium smelter and associated anode plant and cast house by Alcoa.
