Witter eyeing a reopening of Alpart’s bauxite plant

Following discussions with Agriculture Minister Floyd Green and a team from Alpart, Franklin Witter, minister of state in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, is confident that bauxite production will resume at the plant in Manchester.

"We look forward to a new proposal being forwarded to us, so that we can engage the company, so we will be able to initiate the reopening of Alpart," said Witter, who was speaking at the recent National Minerals Week Mining/Minerals Conference, at Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville. Alpart, which was the economic backbone of many communities in Manchester prior to closing its doors to bauxite production 15 years ago, could bring back economic viability to these communities, should it resume operations.

"There are significant assets associated with the plant that can generate huge benefits to the people of Manchester," said Witter. "We are looking at some of the facilities, like the wells at Porus, storage tanks and other buildings at the plant, to see how best we can repurpose them and have them used to support other commercial activities in Manchester."

While Witter wants to see the plant reopen, he nonetheless said there is ongoing dialogue with private sector interests to see whether other areas of the plant can be repurposed. He said the assets would be utilised to improve the citizens' well-being, citing improving access to potable water and provision of land titles for the people who were resettled by bauxite mining companies.

"The issuing of land titles has been moving very slowly, but we are prepared, and we have started the process of making sure that titles will be delivered timely to the citizens. We don't believe that someone should wait 10 years for a title. That stifles economic activity. So we are prepared to ensure that, going forward, the delivery improves," said Witter.