KINGSTON, Jamaica – Shadow Minister of Transport and Mining, Mikael Phillips, is calling on the management of the Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) Alumina Plant in Nain, St Elizabeth, to immediately compensate citizens in the area for a major dust storm on January 23 and 24.

In a statement on Thursday, Phillips said the citizens were becoming restive as a meeting last Friday and on Wednesday, failed to arrive at an agreement. He said the company told citizens that their devices failed to record wind speeds at the requisite levels to trigger the compensation mechanism.

“The citizens are disputing the company’s assertion due to damage suffered, including dust in the houses, water contamination, crop damage and walls in need of painting,” he said.

The Shadow Minister went on to highlight that citizens who live in the vicinity of the mud lake especially, complained to him about the damages and are threatening to stage a demonstration at the plant gate.

Describing the matter as a very serious one, Phillips said the company has an obligation to sprinkle the mud lake to avoid incidents such as last week’s dust storm and wants JISCO to be good corporate citizens and compensate the people for the damage suffered.

In the meantime, the Shadow Minister is calling on Mining Minister Floyd Green to update the country on the future of the JISCO alumina plant, which was closed in 2019 for rehabilitation and upgrade. He said the period of work was scheduled for two years, but indicates that it has been almost five years. He shared that a progress report is urgently needed.