The Chinese are eyeing a bigger stake in the Jamaican economy than the logistics hub and roads.
A delegation has been in the island over the last few months seeking to tie up a deal for the nation's largest alumina refinery.
Reeling from the sanctions against its home country for invading Ukraine in 2014, Russian aluminium company, UC Rusal, is to reduce its stake in Jamaica. The Russians have been in talks with Chinese state-owned entity JISCO since last year and are ready to off load the Alpart refinery in St Elizabeth to it for more than US$300 million.
It's understood that Mining Minister Phillip Paulwell led a delegation to China to discuss the matter, but when contacted by RJR News about the sale of Alpart to JISCO, Mr Paulwell said this would not be made public before the election, because he did not want it to become a campaign issue.
However, RJR News understands that JISCO intends to finalise the deal to purchase Alpart by May of this year. As part of the deal, it is expected to stick to the schedule agreed with UC Rusal to restart alumina production at ALPART in December. It is also reportedly planning to expand the refinery's capacity from its current 1.6 million tonnes of alumina per year to more than two million.
Other plans are being pursued to create an industrial park in the vicinity of the plant, but we were told that is not concrete as yet.
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