A third of the all-weather road linking the backlands of Wales, West Bank Demerara, to Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, in order to facilitate the smooth transportation of cane by private farmers has been completed.
This was disclosed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) Corporate Communica-tions Manager Audreyanna Thomas. GuySuCo’s Finance Director Paul Bhim had previously told Stabroek News that 60% of the farmers hail from Canal Number One Polder and their fields are closer to the Uitvlugt estate than to the Wales factory. He had said that the farmers preferred to move their cane there because it is easier to access.
Speaking to Stabroek News, Thomas related that they have started works on the road and out of 15 kilometres, approximately five was completed.
In March, Thomas had told this publication that the road was expected to be completed by the end of July. When she was questioned about the status of the road, she had explained that the inclement weather had affected its progress but it was significantly advanced and expected to be completed by the end of July, once the weather continues to be favourable.
In light of the road being incomplete, she explained that they have taken interim measures to ensure that the road can facilitate safe and smooth travel by farmers. One such measure was to improve the current “fair-weather” road.
“And so in the absence of the all-weather road, we have upgraded what was there and so the farmers are currently transporting on that road to their factory. We made a number of adjustments to the original timeline but in terms of functionality, the fair-weather road has been working for the farmers,” she said.
In February, GuySuCo had advertised lands in a bid to encourage more private cane farmers to take up work at the Uitvlugt Estate. Thomas had said that some 4,200 hectares were made available and up to last month, more than half was already leased out.
“One of the things we want to do is to bring more cane farmers on board and this is part of that and our Uitvlugt Improvement Programme,” Thomas had said. She had indicated that out of the 4,200 hectares of land that was made available for lease, 2,800 hectares have been occupied by some 77 cane farmers already. “Some of the farmers who were at Wales, went over to Uitvlugt and we started to give some new ones last year and in 2016 we started to give some new farmers,” Thomas had noted.
Thomas had said that they are expecting to produce 5,900 tonnes of sugar per year from the lands that are currently being leased.
