JAMAICA OBSERVER – Government has imposed a permanent ban on the scrap metal trade in a bid to end the vandalism of millions of dollars worth of valuable metals from businesses and private residences over the past three years.
Industry and Commerce Minister Christopher Tufton said Cabinet took the decision after much deliberation on Monday.
“Noting the co-relation between increased demand, high metal prices and the rise in metal theft, Cabinet said it was forced to take the drastic action of imposing the ban in the national interest, and in order to curb the wanton theft and destruction of valuable property,” Tufton announced during a press conference at the ministry in Kingston yesterday.
A decision, he said, has however been taken by Cabinet for an arrangement to be put in place by the end of this year, that will allow companies which generate their own scrap metal to apply for permits to export the material.
Tufton said the scrap metal theft has cost government and the private sector more than $1 billion over the past three years.
The latest upsurge in the theft of valuable infrastructure, including train lines and heritage items, has led to renewed calls for further government intervention to solve the problem.
Various companies affected by the pillaging of the metal in recent months have been calling on government to ban the trade as they continue to suffer from millions of dollars in losses at the hands of scrap metal thieves.