Amid ongoing concerns about the problematic operations of the Skeldon Sugar Factory which has cost millions to fix since its construction, former President Donald Ramotar says that price was the most important issue in awarding the contract, a point that sugar industry expert Tony Vieira has disputed.
“When GuySuCo invited tenders for the construction of the new factory at Skeldon, there were three bidders – a Chinese, an Indian and a Japanese company. The Japanese company placed a very high bid. The lowest bid was from the Chinese company. Before an award was made, Booker Tate (which was managing GuySuCo at the time) was awarded the contract to be the consulting engineers for GuySuCo.