00:00Thousands of workers have been thrown on the breadline as the scrap metal industry has been
00:04shut down once again. This as a one-year extension under the Scrap Metal Act has expired.
00:11President of the Trinidad and Tobago Scrap Iron Association, Alan Ferguson,
00:15is calling on the government to move quickly to implement the recommendations of a review committee.
00:20Vanessa Cutting reports.
00:22I mean, some yards open today, but tomorrow, every single yard getting this message,
00:27because we only get it this morning, every single scrapyard will have to close
00:32because if you watch what the ministry sent out, I mean, they will be enforcing the law
00:38for people to keep their yard closed, and that is why one of the things that they say
00:43that they will be enforcing the law.
00:45Via public notice today, the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism
00:51advises all stakeholders in the scrap metal industry
00:53that the scrap metal extension expired on the 14th of October.
00:58And as such, the enforcement of the relevant statutory penalties and fines under the Scrap Metal Act 2022
01:04is therefore effective and applicable.
01:08It's a development the Trinidad and Tobago Scrap Iron Association says
01:12has taken its membership by surprise.
01:15Last meeting that we had, it was about a month and a half ago in reference to the committee.
01:20We sit down with the government, we, I mean, we, the minister put a team together
01:25to fix all the problems that we have in the industry, and the team is EMA.
01:30We have Tongan Country, we have the Ministry of Trade, we have the Attorney General,
01:37we have the TDPS, we have Custom, we have a lot of ministries working with us to fix the problem.
01:46So we will not notify that we will have had to face this problem today.
01:53So, I mean, it's a shocking thing.
01:55The association is reminding the government that livelihoods and revenues are on the line.
02:01Millions are U.S. dollars.
02:03Millions are U.S. dollars.
02:05Millions are U.S. dollars.
02:07I can't have a figure, but I could tell you, we will be losing a lot because it's, it's, it's,
02:14it's, it's, it's, it's,
02:15the industry focus, the industry is the ship, the people who ship the material, the brokers,
02:22the people operating in the port, the truckers, the people, the people who prepare the material,
02:29the people who bring the material, the people who work in the scrapyard to pack the material.
02:34Thousands and thousands of people is employed in this industry and we cannot afford to keep this industry shut down
02:44because as the country, as the country grew with a lot of companies being shut down
02:51and then this industry will employ thousands of people, it's going to be bad for the country.
02:57Ferguson is calling on the government to reconsider and to move instead to implement the recommendations put forward
03:04through the Scrap Metal Industry Regulation Committee.
03:08The ministry has done all the necessary work to send into the cabinet about extending it for more than a
03:17year.
03:17We hope that cabinet will come up with some idea, some kind of thing, some able to give us some
03:25short period of time
03:26or a year or whatever it is from cabinet today, based on cabinet meeting today and hope that they get
03:33this message.
03:34Renasa Cutting, TV6 News.
03:37In response, Prime Minister Kamala Pesad-Besessa is giving the assurance that the Ministry of Trade
03:42is working with the Scrap Iron Association to find some middle ground.
03:46But she says the scrap iron collectors brought this situation on themselves.
03:51The Prime Minister laments that the business communities, state companies and average citizens
03:56continue to be victims of theft from persons in the scrap iron industry
04:00and says despite numerous complaints and attempts to work with the collectors,
04:05they continue to engage in theft across the country, costing the state, businesses and citizens millions in losses.
04:12The Prime Minister questions how they refuse to give up their criminality
04:16and then expect cooperation from the state and citizens.
04:19She adds, as a sign of good faith, the scrap iron fraternity should bring back all the stolen manhole covers,
04:27copper tubing, brass fittings, hydrons, cables, etc. that they have stolen from public places.
04:35The Prime Minister says the reality is that scrap iron has become organized crime.
04:40She's advising the membership to clean up their industry.
04:43As she says, this thieving cannot continue.
