Roget: No govt funds for Patriotic

OWTU head Ancel Roget said on Friday the union’s company, Patriotic Energies and Technology, will not be getting any government money in its bid to restart the Pointe-a-Pierre oil refinery of the defunct Petrotrin.

He was replying to Newsday’s question after he addressed the launch of the Patriotic logo at a function at the Radisson Hotel, Port of Spain, attended by the OWTU executive and several hundred union members sporting trademark blue jerseys.

Apart from the US$700 million bid to buy the refinery, millions will also be needed to restart it from its current mothballed state.

Roget said the OWTU’s business plan, now under consideration by the government, which chose the union as the preferred bidder, includes details of its financiers. While non-disclosure agreements ban him from publicly naming the backers, he assured the proposal was “lawful, legitimate and legal.”

Roget added that the union has not asked for, not been offered nor negotiated for any financial assistance from the Government.

Newsday asked his views on the impending year-end closure of the Yara ammonia plant at Couva. He said he was due to meet Yara union members later on Friday to prepare for a meeting with the company on Monday. He said Yara is facing many challenges, like other gas users.

Roget, basking in the praise of union members over the Patriotic bid, in an expansive mood urged a due diligence to be done on the Yara plant, given the union's pending interest.

He declared, “If they are prepared to sell, we are willing to buy.”

Roget then assured OWTU members that they still have a union, which was now simply stepping over from the technical side to the financial side of running a refinery.

In his earlier address, Roget said Patriotic will hire the best people globally to run the business of the refinery. He would not become CEO, he said.

No local business people or bankers had made a bid on the refinery, he said, but only the union is now seeking to retain the assets in the hands of the people of TT.

“The OWTU, as shareholder, is not for the benefit of the OWTU. We entered that costly, time-consuming and very challenging activity for the benefit of all citizens.”

Referencing a video clip that paid tribute to the union’s past leaders, he said today the OWTU stands on the shoulders of giants and so can see further ahead than most people.

It was the highest form of patriotism for the union to spend millions of dollars on the refinery venture in the face of declining energy-sector revenues.

He was confident the union’s business plan had met the ten points required by Finance Minister Colm Imbert and it wass just a matter of time before their bid wais formally accepted.

“Absolutely nobody in this country or the world gave us any favour, no government and no opposition. We fought for it and deserve it. We would have won the bid with flying colours in the name of Trinidad and Tobago.”

He vowed Patriotic will have no political interference, corruption or mismanagement. Roget said Patriotic has been properly incorporated as a company, naming two OWTU executive officials as directors, including trustee Ozzie Warwick.