The Petrojam refinery, in Montego Freeport, St James, is preparing to roll out the E-10 gasoline on November 1, to ensure islandwide coverage, approximately one year after its launch in Jamaica.

To get a first-hand view of the preparations, Minister of Energy and Mining James Robertson toured the refinery on Friday.

"I am here at the Montego Bay Petrojam refinery with the Petrojam team to have a first-hand view. I will also be going across to the other facility (Jamaica Petroleum Termi-nals), which is privately owned, and when I look at that one, we will also be able to say to the nation we are now ready. This has been a long process, but it has been a necessary process," the minister said.

"You can't have a country that is using harmful additives in its gas-oline and continue to do so. The rest of the world is on this step and we are in step with them in the protection of our environment," he told journalists on the tour.

Robertson described the switch to E-10 as a modernisation of the offerings of petroleum products in Jamaica, bringing it into the 21st century, "where we need to be as a nation."

The minister said that apart from being environmentally friendly, E-10 is a more efficient type of fuel, as it burns cleaner than fuel with the traditional additives.

He said all motor vehicles manufactured around the world after 1986 can efficiently use the E-10 fuel, while vehicles manufactured before that date can be made to use it with minor adjustments.

Accompanying the minister were officials from Petrojam and a number of exchange students from Venezuela, who are studying at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.