By Odette Loney Thursday, September 3 2009

As Alutrint officials say no work is taking place at the site of a multi-million dollar

aluminium smelter in Union Village, La Brea, president of Trinidad and Tobago Civil Rights Association Ramesh Maharaj objects to the continuation of projects which support the establishment of the smelter.

Alutrint corporate communications manager Josieann Richards said work at the smelter site has stopped in accordance with a High Court ruling by Justice Mira Dean-Armorer, on June 16, which quashed the Environmental Management Authority’s decison to grant a certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) to Alutrint for construction of the smelter.

Richards said Alutrint is a tenant of the National Energy Corporation (NEC) which is undertaking other projects at the Union Industrial Estate, such as a port facility, a power plant, a gas pipeline and a temporary work camp and although these projects may be associated with the smelter, each one has its own CEC. However, Maharaj, in a letter to Alutrint yesterday, said the court’s decision should also affect the continued construction of all other facilities that are connected to the smelter.

“The continuation of works on those supporting facilities for the establishment of the aluminium smelter complex would undermine and subvert the order of the court made against the legality of the aluminium smelter complex,” said Maharaj.

He called on Alutrint to stop all work on these associated projects within 24 hours, otherwise as he “will take whatever action is considered necessary to protect the process of the court and to vindicate the rule of law.”