Dear Editor,
Chinese firm Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company Limited is about to invest $774 million in Alpart and will also set up an industrial complex. They are expected to employ 700 workers initially at Alpart and then an overall complement of 3,000.
Environment managers have expressed serious concerns because the Chinese firm cannot make this investment profitably without using one of the cheapest fuel — coal. Diana McCaulay of Jamaica Environment Trust is appalled at the idea of us signing such a deal and the certain massive damage to the environment.
The Government is caught between a rock and a hard place, we have huge unemployment, especially among the young, which is directly related to us having the sixth most murderous country on the planet. Do we save the environment and continue this murderous state of affairs, or do we wreck the environment and hope that the affluent spin-off can repair it?
But history has shown that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) cannot adequately police environmental damage.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Government will accede to the Chinese firm’s request. Sadly, like Compton, the purchasers of the Sugar Company of Jamaica, the promises, and the expected waivers may not improve our economic problems. We have already traded the environment with the obnoxious red mud lakes scattered wherever we manufacture alumina, now we will add polluting our rivers, streams and sea.
There is no amount of investment that can offset the damage to our country long after the bauxite companies are closed or the distilleries are shuttered. We cannot afford these types of investments no matter how many jobs they promise, we are in effect cutting off our nose to spite our face. Cuban Leader Fidel Castro once said, the next generation will curse the current one for the cruel legacy we leave for our children.
Mark Clarke
Siloah PO, St Elizabeth
mark_clarke9@yahoo.com
Chinese firm Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company Limited is about to invest $774 million in Alpart and will also set up an industrial complex. They are expected to employ 700 workers initially at Alpart and then an overall complement of 3,000.
Environment managers have expressed serious concerns because the Chinese firm cannot make this investment profitably without using one of the cheapest fuel — coal. Diana McCaulay of Jamaica Environment Trust is appalled at the idea of us signing such a deal and the certain massive damage to the environment.
The Government is caught between a rock and a hard place, we have huge unemployment, especially among the young, which is directly related to us having the sixth most murderous country on the planet. Do we save the environment and continue this murderous state of affairs, or do we wreck the environment and hope that the affluent spin-off can repair it?
But history has shown that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) cannot adequately police environmental damage.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Government will accede to the Chinese firm’s request. Sadly, like Compton, the purchasers of the Sugar Company of Jamaica, the promises, and the expected waivers may not improve our economic problems. We have already traded the environment with the obnoxious red mud lakes scattered wherever we manufacture alumina, now we will add polluting our rivers, streams and sea.
There is no amount of investment that can offset the damage to our country long after the bauxite companies are closed or the distilleries are shuttered. We cannot afford these types of investments no matter how many jobs they promise, we are in effect cutting off our nose to spite our face. Cuban Leader Fidel Castro once said, the next generation will curse the current one for the cruel legacy we leave for our children.
Mark Clarke
Siloah PO, St Elizabeth
mark_clarke9@yahoo.com