Senator the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon, Minister of Trade and Industry, along with senior officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry recently visited the construction site of the Phoenix Park Industrial Estate (PPIE). The team met with officials of Evolving Tecknologies and Enterprise Development Company Limited (eTeck) and Beijing Construction Engineering Group Co. Ltd. (BCEG) to acquire a first-hand perspective of the progress, to date. Of the construction activities associated with the Project, approximately 60% has been completed.
During her visit, Minister Gopee-Scoon underscored the timely operationalization of the State-of–the-Art Industrial Estate which will play an important role in the country’s economic development and further diversification efforts. The Minister was particularly encouraged that over 90% of the labour force for the project thus far had been sourced locally. There are currently 478 employees (439 are local staff) working at the PPIE site which has 19 local sub-contractors engaged. As construction activities are ramped up, the total number of employees on the project is expected to increase to meet the May 2022 completion date.
Currently, local and international investors are pursuing tenancy arrangements in the Park with InvesTT. According to Minister Gopee-Scoon
“the Park has already and continues to create invaluable opportunities for jobs and opens the way for new commercial and foreign direct investments into Trinidad and Tobago’s non-energy sector.”
The PPIE, which is 145 acres in size, is sub-divided into 78 leasable land lots and includes five (5) factory shells. Upon completion in May 2022, it will provide the necessary economic space and infrastructure for firms in the areas of light and advanced manufacturing, assembly, logistics and distribution and information and communication technology (ICT) industries.
