The Trinidad and Tobago Aggregate Producers Alliance is urging the Government to use anticipated energy revenues to strengthen the domestic economy and address persistent obstacles facing the aggregate industry, rather than concentrating solely on short-term relief.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a forum at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, on Friday, alliance president Nigel Tenia said the expected windfall from high energy prices and revenues from gas projects anticipated in 2027 should be managed with a longer-term development strategy in mind. The event was titled \u201cThe Renaissance Budget: Build the Economy Before the Windfall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tenia argued that the country should seek benefits that last beyond immediate economic pressures. He also called for policies and a framework that would make it easier for businesses to operate. According to the report by the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, alliance members identified the licensing process for mining and processing as complex, creating bottlenecks that restrict aggregate supply and contribute to higher construction costs.<\/p>\n
The forum also heard concerns about illegal quarrying and the challenges of maintaining effective oversight as demand for construction materials grows. Alliance member Howard John said unregulated quarrying had transformed areas including Sangre Grande and Valencia into major criminal hotspots. He estimated that 90 per cent of local criminal activity was driven by the illicit aggregate trade, a figure presented as his assessment during the discussion rather than an independently established statistic.<\/p>\n
John warned that an increase in construction demand following new energy-project investment could intensify existing problems if regulation remained inadequate. He described a risk of operators extracting materials wherever they could find them when formal controls failed to keep pace with demand. He also referred to Guyana, recalling frequent requests for assistance with aggregate supplies during a period of strong demand there.<\/p>\n
The discussion extended beyond quarrying to public procurement. Participants raised concerns about amendments to the procurement regulation bill, with some arguing that the changes had weakened the effectiveness of the Office of Procurement Regulation. The report did not establish a final assessment of the amendments or indicate that the concerns had been resolved.<\/p>\n
Abrahim Ali, president of the San Juan Association, called for greater attention to lower- and middle-income earners. He attributed stagnation in the construction sector partly to economic uncertainty among these groups and said small and micro businesses were struggling because of limited income circulating among households.<\/p>\n
Ali urged the Government to give small and medium-sized enterprises greater consideration, arguing that these businesses play an important role in returning income to households.<\/p>\n
The alliance’s central appeal is for anticipated energy revenues to support sustainable economic activity while addressing the regulatory barriers that industry representatives say are constraining legitimate aggregate production. Their proposals place licensing reform, stronger oversight and support for smaller businesses among the issues they want policymakers to consider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Quarry operators want energy revenues to unlock growth and tackle barriers to local business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trinidad-and-tobago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}