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Since Petrotrin’s 2018 closure, the Scrap Iron Dealers Association (SIDA) said they have been unsuccessful in striking a deal to buy the scrap metal from the company’s facilities which were also closed.
Nearly three years after the company’s closure, the association’s president Allan Ferguson said they are disappointed that all their efforts have been futile.
Ferguson spoke during a press conference on Wednesday at Signature Hall, Chaguanas.
“Petrotrin was one of the largest suppliers of our organisation before they closed down. Petrotrin was supplying us with a lot of materials.
“So when Petrotrin closed down, we as an organisation had to take some kind of step to save our industry because we would have ended up having to close up.”
On May 19, 2020, the association met with a team from Heritage Petroleum (Heritage) which was the company created to replace Petrotrin.
A few weeks later, the association toured all of Petrotrin’s now-defunct facilities to see what scrap metal they would have been able to buy.
Since the visit, Ferguson said the association has made proposals which have been ignored.
Because they haven’t been able to work out a deal with heritage, the association thinks that Trinidad and Tobago has lost an investment opportunity.
Ferguson lamented, “We (the association) had invited investors to come into TT and assist us with these projects.
“We also engaged one of the largest steel mills in the world to come to TT and they agreed to come here and work with us.”
Ferguson said officials at Heritage were aware of the potential investment opportunities and the association’s plan to set up what he describes as a mill with a world-class scrap-iron shredder.
With the mill, the association believes it would have increased the amount of scrap iron being processed in TT and create new jobs.
Yet, Ferguson said the association’s efforts are being continuously ignored.
“They are now saying that we have to bid for the (scrap) material.
“We did things in a way (early on) to show Petrotrin that they would gain money and our organisation would have had a lot of employment for workers because of what we would have done with the materials,” said Ferguson.
He is now calling on Energy Minister Stuart Young to intervene in the matter.
Newsday was unable to get a comment from Heritage on Ferguson’s claims.
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