En­vi­ron­men­tal ac­tivist Dr Wayne Kublals­ingh and Move­ment for So­cial Jus­tice leader David Ab­du­lah have sup­port­ed the pro­posed restart of the for­mer Arcelor­Mit­tal steel plant at Point Lisas, but warn that the Gov­ern­ment must dis­close the cost, terms and strate­gic im­pli­ca­tions of the project.

Their call comes af­ter Gov­ern­ment an­nounced on the week­end that it had signed a Mem­o­ran­dum of Un­der­stand­ing with Pin­na­cle Steel and Vana­di­um Cor­po­ra­tion to be­gin dis­cus­sions on re­fur­bish­ing, recom­mis­sion­ing and op­er­at­ing the plant.

It said the project could al­so po­si­tion Trinidad and To­ba­go as a pro­duc­er of vana­di­um, a strate­gic met­al used in aero­space and de­fence prod­ucts, in­clud­ing mil­i­tary air­craft. The Gov­ern­ment es­ti­mates the coun­try could even­tu­al­ly sup­ply up to 50 per cent of to­tal Unit­ed States de­mand if the project pro­ceeds. It added that the Point Lisas In­dus­tri­al Port De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (Plipde­co), which owns the prop­er­ty and lands where the plant is lo­cat­ed, is al­so a par­ty to the agree­ment.