(Trinidad Express) –  Energy Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan confirmed [on Wednesday] that government had pulled the plug on the Alutrint aluminium smelter project at La Brea Industrial Estate.

Speaking with members of the media, following a luncheon hosted by the Energy Chamber at Paria Suites in La Romaine on Wednesday, the minister said the People’s Partnership had no intention of continuing with the construction of the smelter plant.

Construction stalled last June after High Court Justice Mira Dean-Armorer ordered an injunction, based on a challenge from several environmental organisations, against the decision by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) to grant a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) to Alutrint. The order was appealed and a judgment is pending.

In the meantime, work on a port facility and power plant, both in support of the smelter, has continued in La Brea.

Seepersad-Bachan’s People’s Partnership Government had promised during the general election campaign there would be no smelter.

On Wednesday, she said: “As of May 24, all further construction… stopped.”

She said no jobs would be lost, and alternative measures would be put in place to accommodate any incurred losses.