The Chinese contractors currently in the commissioning stages for the Skeldon sugar factory are hoping that the production of sugar could begin by this weekend and stabilized so that the turnkey project could be handed over to the Guyana Sugar Corporation by the end of this month.
They also hope that once the factory is up and running efficiently both parties could amicably resolve issues of liquidated damages, which could run into millions of US dollars, for failure to hand over the project by the deadline.
In a telephone interview, CNTIC Director Chen Yu Yu, who is currently overseeing the commissioning of the US$181 million plant, told Stabroek News that since the commissioning process restarted on October 8, the engineers have found a number of hiccups on the production line and were fixing them one by one.
The problems were common in large plants with various production units, such as this new factory, he said.
At present, Chen said the engineers were testing the diffuser, also known as the juice extractor, which was manufactured by the British company, Fletcher Engineering. This, he said, was just one of the processes in the complex production of the sugar crystals, he said.
Once the cane juice is successfully extracted, he said that the testing would continue on other components until it gets to the final stage of crystallisation, hopefully as early as this weekend.
“As soon as we have crystals and the production is stable, which, hopefully, would be by month-end,” he said, “we would hand over the factory to Guysuco.”
Chen said that CNTIC has already received a notice for liquidated damages from Guysuco but he hopes that once the testing is successfully completed both companies could work towards an amicable resolution of the matter.
Meanwhile, Guysuco Chief Executive Nick Jackson, when contacted told Stabroek News that he was getting concerned as time goes by and the factory was still not into full production.
Ideally, he said that he would like the factory up and running because the old factory, which had to be put back into operation after the new factory failed to function effectively for the projected start-up date of August 26, could only process 92 tonnes of cane per hour while the new factory has the capacity to process 350 tonnes per hour.
“The pressure is on and time is running out,” he said adding that if the factory was not ready soon, “I am afraid cane will remain in the ground.”
Before the factory is handed over, the contractors are required to successfully conduct a 24-hour test and a 72-hour test through all its various components to ensure safety and efficiency. Follow-ing this, there would be three other 72-hour tests over the next year and the contractor would still be liable for defects arising from those tests.
Work began on the factory in 2005 and it was expected that the project would have been completed by October last year. Since then the commissioning date has been pushed back several times with the last date being August 26, 2008.
