JISCO ALPART Owners Encourage Community Members to Take Advantage of Opportunities

Owners and operators of the Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) ALPART bauxite refinery, in St. Elizabeth, are encouraging persons in the surrounding communities to take advantage of the opportunities that will be available with the planned expansion of the plant.

In an interview with JIS News at the recent 24th Bauxite and Alumina Conference in Montego Bay, Assistant Managing Director of JISCO ALPART Jamaica, Sun Jing, hailed the good relationship that the company has with the local community, especially persons living near the plant.

He said that members of the community are already benefiting from the re-opening of the plant in mid-2017, as more than 50 of them have been employed. Mr. Sun added that JISCO is also planning to do a demonstration greenhouse project at the entrance to the plant.

“We just want to give the people, especially the local farmers, a chance to learn something from the demonstration project to improve their output,” he said. According to Mr. Sun, there are opportunities to come for the local people based on JISCO’s long term strategic plan. “We will be building the new refinery, we will be using LNG for energy and we’re building a new powerhouse.

We will also be doing the Port Kaiser expansion and when we shift our energy from oil to LNG, it’s another huge potential opportunity for the local persons,” he said. He explained that the regasification process for LNG will produce co-energy, and that energy can be sent to a storage house/room to keep meat at a low temperature.

“For the local person, they can utilise that co-energy to preserve their goods temporarily before going to market,” he said. Mr. Sun added that more opportunities will be presented with the scheduled 10-year special economic zone development plan for the plant, where persons, especially those in the parish, will have a chance to be involved in the development of the area.

He said support functions will be required, such as schools, hotels, housing for staff and places for them to do business, like supermarkets and other retail outlets.