The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) yesterday said it has been informed that the plans for the turnaround of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) include the construction of a white sugar plant that is expected to be operable at Albion at the end of 2021.
The disclosure was made during a GuySuCo briefing for GAWU on plans to make the industry viable, according to the union, which said the engagement took place last Tuesday. It noted that it had been seeking a meeting on the plans for more than a year.
In a statement on the meeting that was issued yesterday, GAWU noted that a feasibility study conducted last year had found that a white sugar plant would be viable. “At this time, the Corporation is in the process of inviting suitable firms to bid for the project,” it added, while noting that it is envisaged that the plant would produce some 55,000 tonnes per year.
GAWU further said that the move to apply the Common External Tariff on extra-regional refined sugar imports when regional production commences would assure a secured and lucrative market.
Additionally, GAWU learned that GuySuCo expects also to transfer some aspects of the shuttered Enmore packaging plant to Albion to commence the production of packaged brown and white sugar at the location too. “All the projects, we learnt, would be pursued concurrently and would be activated as they are completed. They are also plans to strengthen cane farming at the location while a section of the former Rose Hall Estate cultivation has been annexed to Albion to maximize production,” the statement added.
At Blairmont, GAWU was told, GuySuCo plans to expand the cultivation and to improve the capacity of the packaging plant at that location to the point where only higher-value direct-consumption sugars would be produced. At Uitvlugt, it noted, GuySuCo intends to pursue the packaging and bagging of sugar, while GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Harold Davis Jnr, who was part of the meeting, was reported as saying that there are discussions regarding a joint venture to establish a distillery at Uitvlugt or possibly at Blairmont.
According to the statement, Davis Jnr said the Corporation envisages that it would be producing some 160,000 tonnes of sugar by 2025 and also shared that their returns in the fields are above what has been anticipated though he cautioned that efforts must be sustained to realise the goals set. On this score, the statement said, Davis Jnr expressed his appreciation to the workers for their efforts.
He also shared that the situation in the factories has not been as positive and there is urgent need for capital investment to secure and consolidate the plants. He added that corporation envisages investments in the fields to repair infrastructure and to further mechanization and disclosed that substantial sums will be spent in the factories to repair and replace defective equipment and components as well as to upgrade them to produce higher-quality and better priced direct consumption sugars.
Based on its questions about funding, GAWU was told that GuySuCo is seeking to utilise the proceeds of the $30 billion bond secured by NICIL-SPU. It also is hopeful of an approach to the UN’s Green Climate Fund for support regarding co-generation plant. “The Corporation’s Chief did inform the Union that bond proceeds have stopped since June, this year. He did share that he is optimistic that the obstacles to access the funding would be removed in a short time and allow the company to pursue its plans in the shortest possible time,” GAWU said. “We did ask whether the proceeds of industry’s assets by NICIL-SPU were channeled to the sugar company and the Corporation shared that this wasn’t the case. The funding logjam, the CEO informed has prevented the company from planning properly and the matter needed to be resolved,” it further added.
According to GAWU, it pointed out that the success of the plans cannot be delinked from the workers, who are very much distressed and troubled since there was a freeze on their wages since 2015.
Davis Jnr was reported as saying that something must be done as he pointed out that the industry could not survive without its workers.
