(Trinidad Guardian) The T&T Free Zones Company Ltd (TTFZ) will sign a US$65 million deal with Bredero Shaw Middle East Ltd (BSMEL), the largest division of ShawCor Ltd, a global energy services company specialising in products and services for the pipeline and pipe industry.
The deal is to re-establish a pipe concrete coating facility and storage yard at Site A, Union Industrial Estate, La Brea. The project anticipates to import an estimated US$514 million worth of raw materials and export products valued at an estimated US$548 million to the Caribbean region.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement that the objective to ensure the regulatory framework and the enabling environment to facilitate trade, business and investment and commercial activity are in place to serve all stakeholders, welcomes this project.
“(It) will mean not only additional employment and revenue to citizens of T&T, but also regional prosperity,” the statement read. Among those expected to be at the signing are: Trade Minister Stephen Cadiz, Noel Corcoran, project manager, BBSMEL, Roseanne Reid, consultant, BSMEL, and Kelly Bainey and Keith Chin, chairman and chief executive officer, TTFZ, respectively.
According to Bredero Shaw’s Web site, it is the global leader in the development and manufacture of pipe coating solutions for the oil, gas, and water industries. “Over 400,000 km of pipelines around the world have been protected using Bredero Shaw technology and services,” the site stated.
Minister Cadiz said in a brief telephone interview on Saturday that after the signing, he will be leaving the next day, to attend the XIII United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Qatar. Cadiz is expected to return from Qatar on April 24.
On April 26, he will lead an official eight-member public sector delegation, and about 20 business people from the private sector on a buyers’ mission to Jamaica. Cadiz said the four-day trip is to “narrow the huge differential” in trade between T&T and Jamaica. “In order to be fair to our Caricom neighbours, we’re looking to see what it is that Jamaica has that we can use in Trinidad,” he said.
