Smoke billows again from the chimneys at Alpart, Nain, after nearly eight years of closure.
ONE telephone call from Prime Minister Andrew Holness shortly after midday yesterday may have ended the most painful economic period for residents of Nain, St Elizabeth, as smoke billowed again from the town’s bauxite/alumina plant for the fist time in almost eight years.
The smoke transmitted the news that the 48-year-old Alumina Partners of Jamaica (Alpart) bauxite refinery was back in operation. It promises jobs for the jobless and hope for a community which, as Prime Minister Holness admitted, had managed to keep crime under control for almost a decade while successive governments sought an opportunity to reopen the doors to the mainstay plant.
After the regular speeches at the function marking the historic development, the prime minister was instructed to make the call to the control room, and speak to the “person on duty, and declare the plant officially open”.
“And that person will crank up the powerhouse, and you can look in the air to see the steam coming from the chimneys, again,” Holness was advised.
After an employee made the telephone call, the phone was passed to the prime minister who spoke to the staff on the job.
“All is ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes,” the staff replied.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/alpart-is-smoking-again_102692
