SPELplans to sell asphalt, concrete

Studley Park Enterprise Limited (SPEL) is planning to sell asphalt and concrete to the public. It is also still seeking environmental clearance from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to rehabilitate the existing jetty and position itself to export aggregate and armor rock.

So reported Secretary of Quarries Kwesi Des Vignes at Tuesday’s post Executive Council media briefing held at the Division of Tourism.

Des Vignes said SPEL was positioning itself to be a supplier to asphalt and concrete to the Tobago public.

“SPEL does have capacity to make provisions, there has been requests as well, the reality is that sometimes they say that when Government entities get into what should be private enterprise, there are some complaints but there is also the flipside to ensuring that there is always fair competition and that Tobagonians get value for money,” said Des Vignes. He did not give details of the provisions to be made for SPEL to become a supplier of asphalt and concrete.

DesVignes also reported an increase in sales, stating that SPEL’s 2018 distribution figures for August 2018 was 380 per cent greater than the same period in 2017.

“For the period August 1-26, 2018, we would have distributed …318 metric tonnes of aggregate and since November, we’ve actually distributed over 136,000 tonnes of aggregate.

“Armor rock is now is high demand from Trinidad and we have been sending armor rocks from the quarry down to Trinidad. There have been requests from Guyana and Grenada for our aggregate and armor rock as well, so we are looking to start exporting.

“To that end, we are positioning SPEL, we are doing the necessary work, to get the Certificate of Environmental Clearance from the EMA (Environmental Management Agency) to rehabilitate the existing jetty for sustainability and then look towards further expansion of a port facility in that area,” he said.

He said also that through a work partnership between the Division and the Port Authority, SPEL has been able to access sheet piles which is currently being sandblasted to begin work on the jetty “as soon as there is clearance.”

“We are looking forward to when Tobago can export easily aggregate from that area, he said.