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THA Secretary of Infrastructure, Quarries and Urban Development Trevor James has accused the Government of stymieing development in Tobago in what he believes is its apparent reluctance to issue a blasting permit and mining licence for operations at Studley Park Enterprises Ltd (SPEL).
During the post executive council media briefing on Thursday at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex, James said the situation is affecting the operations at SPEL.
“From where we sit there is absolutely no reason why an ongoing quarry operation has not been granted a licence to blast. Today, we are unable to blast because of this licence and this is threatening the operations at SPEL,” he said.
James, who regarded SPEL as a production centre with the capacity to generate much revenue for Tobago, told reporters the matter first came to the attention of the executive council last year.
“We decided not to go with our gut feeling. Our gut feeling was that this is another attempt by the government in Trinidad to overreach and to stymie all opportunities in Tobago to increase our revenue and revenue to the THA – a THA I must say that is severely underfunded.”
He said SPEL’s management applied for the licence on October 12, 2022 and to date, the Ministry of Energy has not issued a blasting licence. The licence expired on April 6, 2023.
Saying that applications for blasting licences are usually sent to OSHA and the Commissioner of Police, James said it allows SPEL to buy explosives to blast rocks out of the ground and subsequently crush and produce aggregate.
He said the office of the Commissioner of Police acknowledged receipt of the blasting permit renewal application on October 28, 2022, and the OSHA, on October 31.
James said on January 17 and February 2, 2023, emails were sent from SPEL to the TTPS regarding the status of the renewal of the blasting permit.
[caption id="attachment_1014522" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A truck offloads boulders at the Nordberg Crushing Plant at the Studley Park Quarry on Windward Road, Tobago, on November 10, 2020. - Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
On February 6, telephone calls were received from the firearms unit of the TTPS, stating that the SPEL application will be forwarded to the TTPS Tobago for further processing, he added.
James said the OSH agency made a health and safety inspection on January 26 but made no document inspection for the renewal of the blasting permit.
“Now this is five months after we made the application knowing of course that the permit itself would expire.”
He said several attempts were made to contact the OSH agency in Port of Spain by telephone without success.
And on March 6, an email was sent again to OSH enquiring about the status of the blasting permit renewal.
James said a reply was received on March 7, stating that the OSH agency’s chief inspector of will visit SPEL quarry and a date will be set for that visit.
Also on March 7, he said the firearms unit contacted SPEL again by phone indicating that they are awaiting word from the OSH agency pertaining to the renewal of the blasting permit.
“Several officers at SPEL made several attempts to contact and treat with the matter with the OSH agency and as of today, this blasting license is outstanding.”
At the briefing, James also complained about an audit for SPEL to pay royalties to the Ministry of Energy for mining in Tobago.
Describing this issue as “vexacious,” James said SPEL started operations in 2017 and the ministry, from that time to last November, never audited the production levels at the company to determine royalties.
“They (government) has contrived another way to link auditing and the payment of royalties to the issuance of a mining licence to SPEL.”
He said according to law, the lands at Studley Park belong to the THA.
James quoted Section 54 of the THA Act, which reads, “The state, upon the coming into force of this act, all lands and other properties of every kind located in Tobago, vested in the state, except the residences of the President and Prime Minister, are hereby vested in the assembly in right of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.”
He added, “What this says is that the rights to the lands at SPOEL, which were previously vested in the state before 1980 and 1996 have been vested in the THA and, therefore, the mineral rights of the ground at SPEL and all throughout Tobago are now vested in the THA.”
James regarded this as another attempt by the government to “to overreach, to take every action that they can take to not only subjugate the assembly but to prevent us from benefitting from what is ours.”
He called on Energy Minister Stuart Young to address the issue of the blasting permit and mining licence.
“It is the right of the people of Tobago. The laws are clear to us that this seems to be an attempt to slow down any production in Tobago and this assembly simply will not stand for it.”
Young said, in a brief response to Newsday via WhatsApp, the matter will be addressed.
 
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