Petrotrin will officially shut down its operations on November 30 following a massive restructuring exercise which will see new entities taking over the business it once conducted thereafter, beginning today, the T&T Guardian will look at how this will impact some of the communities surrounding the refinery, starting with Gasparillo.
Businesses in fence-line communities such as Gasparillo, Marabella, Maucaulay, Cocoyea and Claxton Bay are bracing for reduced sales, fewer customers and tough days ahead with the full closure of Petrotrin this month-end.
Gasparillo Chamber of Commerce president Anil Ramjit said the community was densely populated with refinery workers, contract workers from 30-plus service companies, as well as contractors who depended on Petrotrin for a living. The people also support the businesses in the area.
“It will definitely impact our business,” Ramjit told Guardian Media.
Ramjit confirmed that since August many of the businesses had started experiencing a decline in customers and the quantity of business they normally do.
He said, “Business declined immediately following the announcement (Petrotrin closure) and has been very very slow since.”
At Medlife Pharmacy, sales had slowed considerably since the announcement. However, a worker said her boss was intent on serving the public for as long he could.
To ensure this, she said, “We are trying to source goods at cheaper prices so we can make it more affordable for our customers.”
The owner/operator of Gosine’s Doubles, who did not want to give his name, said, “It affecting everybody and everything. I don’t think any small man in this country can do anything.”
However, he was adamant that he was not going to end his business.
“It could be who and whatever they do, we will survive, we don’t have any other choice. It will be harder but to survive, we will. We may have to consider returning to the grassroots but we will survive.”
A female customer agreed, “Life out here right now is really tough and plenty people may really have to close down their small businesses. It have plenty people who can’t afford to pay rent right now and have to close down...it’s hard.”
Fruit vendor Raquib Khan, 33, has been selling his produce for close to five years along the Gasparillo Main Road. Counting several Petrotrin employees among his customers, Khan said, “It is so unfortunate.”
Although he has not yet experienced any fall-out, Khan said he knows it is inevitable.
At S&N Roti Shop, the proprietor said she had already reduced the amount of food being cooked on a daily basis.
“Things have gotten really slow,” she said, requesting her name not be used.
She, however, said since taking over the business one year ago she had experienced good and bad times.
Asked if the slowdown in business had anything to do with the decision to close down Petrotrin, she said: “Yes, in a way, because a lot of my customers worked there and since this happened I haven’t seen anybody and I know it is going to get worse.”
Indicating it had affected her bottom line, the woman explained, “We have to watch how we are spending and we are cooking less and less now.”
With three workers on the payroll, she said, “Right now we are giving them days off to stagger the workload so that we can keep all three for now, but I am not sure how much longer we can do that.”
She said all their income was going towards paying rent and purchasing materials to be channelled back into the business.
Resident Rosanna Rambaran predicted things would get worse for people living, working and renting in Gasparillo, as she said many of those in the area were employed at the refinery.
A woman operating a small breakfast and lunch shop estimated that her sales had dropped by 50 per cent on most days.
She said, “We had a lot of customers from there (Petrotrin) and with sales down, we have to be mindful about the future.”
Facing increased prices at the market and grocery, she added, “We are feeling the hard sting of it and we have to think carefully.”
Poultry shop owner Rasheed Ali added, “Even before Petrotrin (closure announcement) sales have been slow. We are in a recession and you have to expect that.”
However, he is not ignorant of the fact that there is more fall-out to come.
“We are expecting it but what could we do?” he added.
Operating for the past 28 years, he said, “We have lowered our standards a little because it cannot be business as usual, it cannot be spending as usual and it cannot be liming as usual, so we have to take stock of ourselves and our own budget.”
Over at the Gasparillo Mall, a handful of operators could not say how much longer they would be able to continue to maintain their businesses, as they too said sales had declined drastically.
Secondary retrenchment starts
Gasparillo Chamber president Anil Ramjit says secondary retrenchment is already occurring within the community as a result of the impending Petrotirn closure.
“Some people have had to downsize almost immediately to survive and some are trying to hold on as long as they can to see if things settle down, but we are looking at small businesses downsizing immediately,” Ramjit told the T&T Guardian.
A former Petrotrin employee himself, Ramjit is sceptical that the new companies taking over Petrotrin’s business will be able to operationalise within a time frame that will reduce the negative impact the refinery closure will have on communities.
Speaking about the mistrust of the Government and their promises, Ramjit said the issue was shrouded in secrecy from the very start and the misinformation being circulated was deliberate and calculated.
“We do not trust them because they were less than honest with the figures thus far, and knowing there were these companies coming on stream. They chose to mislead the population into thinking they were going to keep Petrotrin open and restructure, then a month after you are hearing about the Guaracara Refining Company,” Ramjit said.
“They are saying the refinery is not profitable and if it isn’t, I don’t see them bringing back the refinery any time, so I really do not know what is going on.”
Dismissing the idea that the chamber’s concerns were politically motivated, he added, “The story has been changing from day one and makes no sense.”
The assets of Petrotrin’s refinery are to be transferred to a new entity —Guaracara Refining Company—one of four subsidiaries of a new holding company, Trinidad Petroleum Company Limited, which replaces the debt-burdened state-owned hydrocarbon entity.
The other companies to fall under the holding company are Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited, Heritage Petroleum and Petrotrin, which will remain an entity in name only when it is finally shut down on November 30.
Ramjit was critical of the Government’s handling of the matter, noting, “They have not been honest with the population because to start three companies, it does not happen overnight.”
He said the requisite processes to establish a company would take a couple weeks and, “they (Government) would have known full well they intended to do this thing yet still chose to hide it.”
He said while there was nothing wrong with wanting to restructure and split the Petrotrin assets, it was being done in a manner that had created a lot of “pandemonium and panic.”
Calls for greater security
Gasparillo business owners have renewed their call for firearms so they can protect themselves against the criminal elements.
Aaseen “Tikki” Ali is no stranger to crime, as his son Naail Ali was kidnapped in 2008. The family only found closure in 2011 from the remains were found.
The owner of A&S Hardware and Furniture Store, Ali said he was bracing for a more sinister twist to the entire Petrotrin closure matter.
“When Petrotrin is closed down on November 30, good people will turn bad,”Ali predicted.
He added: “We are in for rough times in this country. I don’t know how rough it will get but if it comes to that I will have to close down. I will have no choice but to do that because things are not easy at all.”
Ali believes if businessmen are allowed to carry firearms it would act as a deterrent to bandits.
“I think bandits are cowards and afraid. If a bandit knows a businessman has a firearm he would think twice about coming around because a businessman would not hesitate to use his firearm,” he said.
However, he dismissed migration as an option.
Ali said, “The only reason I am staying here now is because I have too many investments in this country and if I go to dispose of my assets right now t would not be feasible or profitable.”
Asked what measures were being adopted to improve security within the community, the chamber president Ramjit said efforts were being made to ensure CCTV cameras were installed at all businesses and linked to the TTPS’s network.
In addition, appeals have been made for all businesses to consider joining hands and partnering financially with the chamber to once again have community comfort patrols carried out throughout the work day and until the close of business.
Tabquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan meanwhile said he was very concerned about the level of crime within the Gasparillo community, adding attempts were being made to have police officials meet with business owners and residents to discuss the way forward.