The Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo, Sasenarine Singh, yester-day assured that operations at the Rose Hall Sugar Estate are “steaming ahead” despite recent reports in the Canje community that some works at the estate were put on hold.
“At Rose Hall, it is full steam ahead with the additional $2b we got in 2021, it means full steam ahead for Rose Hall”, he stressed during a press conference held at the Albion Estate yesterday.
According to Singh, $900m is expected to be spent on the factory, “and the works are in process”, noting, that the plan is to start grinding sugar for the second crop in 2022.
“We have no reason to deviate from recognizing that the Government of Guyana has already (committed) $9B in this industry”, he pointed out.
Singh stated, that monies will have to be spent on the sugar bulk wharf and to change evaporators at the estate. He added, that some vacuum parts will have to be repaired and changed out also.
“These are essential pieces of equipment in the process house. If you don’t have these things then you cannot do the process called crystallization, which means there is no sugar”, he explained.
Presently, the CEO said that they are clearing lands while equipment is being procured and rented to do such works.
He added that a new fertilizer bond will be also constructed, while the chemical bond will be rehabilitated at the estate.
The field and factory laboratories will also be rehabilitated and will be aided with new equipment.
“We are purchasing critical agro chemicals which are feeding the plants as they grow… So we are making sure that those food, fertilizer, agro chemicals are there at the right time for Rose Hall to do what it has to do”, he noted.
Meanwhile, Singh said that they basically discovered a “scrap yard’ at the Rose Hall Estate when he took over operations. He said the estate had about 17 functioning tractors in 2017 and they only discovered about “two frames” of tractors.
“Equipment left hanging, wheels missing, critical batteries gone, alternators disappeared, starters gone, radiators gone, all sorts of destruction. So we have to rebuild from scratch and that is what is making this process so difficult because you didn’t get a fair deal at places like Rose Hall’’, he stressed.
According to the CEO, over 500 punts were left, half of which had already deteriorated. He noted that they had to re-bottom those that could have been recovered and scrap the others, “and we have to build about 200 new punts for the sugar industry right now”.
Additionally, Singh said that some roads attached to the estate will have to be built as well.
Estate Manager, Aaron Dukhia yesterday told Stabroek News, that they have so far employed 282 workers at the Rose Hall Estate.
Meanwhile, $711 M from last year’s budget is being spent on the Enmore and Skeldon estates to bring them closer to a state of readiness, Singh noted. “The government made a promise in its manifesto, we are at one with the government”, he said.
