OPERATIONS at 24 privately-owned aggregate companies across the country have been brought to a halt as members of the Trinidad and Tobago Aggregate Producers Alliance (TTAPA) demand a meeting with the Government to address long-standing regulatory issues.

TTAPA president Nigel Tenia and about 30 other people gathered yesterday outside the State-owned National Quarries Ltd (NQL) compound at Turure Road, Sangre Grande, where they staged a peaceful demonstration. The Association claimed, 25 years after the Minerals Act was passed, no company was issued a licence to process sand and gravel and therefore aggregate mining companies, including NQL, are operating illegally.

Tenia told the Express that aggregate processing was critical to the construction sector as it helped produce essential materials such as cement, concrete, clay blocks, and other building components. And given the Police Service’s (TTPS) recent actions in which they have begun “cracking down” on illegal quarrying operations, which led to the arrests of 18 people, including businessman Danny Guerra and his son Garvin Guerra in October, the Alliance members said enough was enough.