Eight additional scrap metal inspectors proposed

The Min­is­ter of Trade, In­vest­ment and Tourism has sig­nalled plans to seek Cab­i­net ap­proval for the ap­point­ment of eight ad­di­tion­al scrap met­al in­spec­tors, as a short-term mea­sure to ad­dress chal­lenges in the in­dus­try.

The pro­pos­al emerged from a meet­ing held at 10 am on De­cem­ber 17, 2025, at the Min­istry’s head of­fice at Nicholas Tow­ers, Port of Spain, in­volv­ing Min­is­ter Satyaka­ma Ma­haraj, Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary Dr Neil Go­sine, min­istry of­fi­cials, mem­bers of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Scrap Iron Deal­ers As­so­ci­a­tion and oth­er stake­hold­ers.

Ac­cord­ing to the As­so­ci­a­tion, dis­cus­sions fo­cused on the lim­it­ed num­ber of scrap met­al in­spec­tors and the prob­lem of il­le­gal­ly op­er­at­ing scrap yards.

The Min­is­ter said a Note would be tak­en to Cab­i­net to ap­prove the ad­di­tion­al in­spec­tors to meet in­dus­try de­mands.

The Min­istry al­so agreed to es­tab­lish a work­ing group com­pris­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the as­so­ci­a­tion, oth­er stake­hold­ers and min­istry of­fi­cials.

The As­so­ci­a­tion said the group is ex­pect­ed to be es­tab­lished as soon as pos­si­ble.

As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Al­lan Fer­gu­son wel­comed the out­come of the meet­ing but cau­tioned against the process be­com­ing a “talk shop”, urg­ing that it pro­duce tan­gi­ble re­sults.

He re­it­er­at­ed the As­so­ci­a­tion’s will­ing­ness to work with the Min­is­ter, his team and the Gov­ern­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go, in the best in­ter­est of all.