Young Engineers to Help Develop Alpart/Gansu Industrial Park

Approximately 60 engineering graduates, who are benefiting from skills upgrading in China, will be engaged in the expansion of the Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/Alpart bauxite refinery and development of the Gansu Industrial Park and Special Economic Zone in Nain, St. Elizabeth, when they return to the island.

The projects together represent investment of approximately US$6 billion by Chinese entity JISCO, generating approximately 60,000 jobs.

The graduates, from the University of the West Indies (UWI), University of Technology (UTEC) and Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) were sent to China in March on a one-year engineering course.

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Mike Henry, who is wrapping up a two-week visit to China, said the young people will have key positions at the bauxite company.

The Minister, who was speaking in an interview with JIS News, said that training is part of the agreement signed with the Chinese firm in order to ensure exchange of skills and knowledge.

“We intend to develop that process of continuation so that we can identify skills that are required and to train ahead of time, so that Jamaicans will be able to extend the skills that are necessary to all the changes in the mining industry,” he told JIS News.

The Minister said that part of his visit to China is to examine areas of investment for Jamaicans in the Gansu Industrial Park and Special Economic Zone.

The project is pivotal to Jamaica’s Logistics Hub Initiative, which is being spearheaded by the Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority (JSEZA).