PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - Alcoa Inc. has selected engineering giant Bechtel Corp. as its partner in a feasibility study for its proposed $1.5 billion aluminum smelter in Trinidad, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
The study for the proposed smelter at Cap-de-Ville on Trinidad's southwest coast was expected to be completed by San Francisco-based Bechtel by year's end, the spokesman said.
Last week, Trinidad's Environmental Management Authority accepted Alcoa's application for an environmental review at the site. The Pennsylvania-based company must complete an environmental impact assessment, which requires that the project's possible environmental and health effects are made known to the public before the deal is concluded.
Alcoa hopes to start construction next year. The smelter would produce 375,890 tons (341,000 metric tons) of aluminum annually and employ as many as 800 workers, and Alcoa would own it.
Bechtel is currently constructing Alcoa's newest aluminum smelter in northeast Iceland. The design of the Cap-de-Ville smelter would be similar to that in Iceland, the spokesman said.
The proposed smelter by Alcoa, the largest aluminum producer in the world, has met some opposition in the Caribbean nation. Critics say the smelter would harm the environment and its neighbors, but the company and Prime Minister Patrick Manning say it would be environmentally safe and boost the economy.