Local machining company Guysons has clinched a US$60m joint venture for oilfield manufacturing at Enmore that will see the GuySuCo sugar packaging plant being transformed into a fabrication facility.
While creating jobs the deal will also represent privatization of a key part of GuySuCo’s assets which had once been played up as a money spinner. The East Coast Demerara packaging plant had been built in 2011 at a cost of US$12m.
Following the acquisition of 55 acres of former Enmore Sugar Estate lands, Guysons entered into a US$60 million joint venture with the United States equipment manufacturer K&B Industries to transform the packaging plant into a fabrication facility for the oil and gas industry.
Guysons Engineering and K&B Industries formed a local Joint Ven-ture in 2020 called GKB, a majority-owned Guyanese company.
Yesterday there was no specific announcement by the Guyana Government that the deal encompassed the GuySuCo packaging plant which had come under the jurisdiction of state holding company, NICIL.
“This is a massive investment! It will be US$7.5 million initially… the immediate task is to get what used to be the processing facility into operation. So you will see not only 150 jobs in the first year but an advertisement for people on the East Coast Corridor to apply,” President Irfaan Ali yesterday remarked at an event held on the sidelines of the International Energy Conference and Expo when the announcement was made.
“This is not only about the oil and gas sector. Guyana must become the hub for fabrication and machinery services for this region,” he added.
The President noted that with Guyana being a new oil producer, many investors are flocking here looking for opportunities and citizens of this country must be able to maximise on those opportunities, but paramount was that they don’t just focus on the petroleum sector.
Ali reminded that this country offers myriad investment opportunities. “We have to start getting into those markets. It gives us the accelerated momentum to get there because we have the… investors to get there but we have to push to get more than oil and gas.”
President Ali also underscored plans for employment of persons living not only along the East Coast of Demerara but also the East Bank.
The Enmore project especially targets the unemployed of that community and persons living along the East Coast of Demerara corridor. It is expected to create some 100 jobs at startup and an additional 400 over a five- year period.
“Why are we going out on the East Coast and the East Bank? The growing population is on the East Coast and the East Bank. We made very clear that we are going to create new growth poles,” Ali said in his brief remarks yesterday in a business room in the Marriott Hotel where the event was held.
“What is the plan? To integrate Enmore into what is happening at the port facility and so on,” he asked.
The Enmore estate and sugar packaging plant was one of four estates that were shuttered over the course of the David Granger APNU+AFC administration that saw the retrenchment of over 7,000 workers.
CEO of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), RK Sharma yesterday told Stabroek News that Demerara Sugar will still be packaged here as “alternative arrangements” have been made within GuySuCo since the Enmore building will be “repurposed.”
Skills transfer
Meanwhile, Ali explained that Guyana as an oil producing nation should be able to reap the benefits of servicing the sector in all areas and the GKB venture provides the opportunity for knowledge and skills transfer in the specialty areas.
He posited that all communities must feel that they are a part of the development of this country and it is why government will provide the infrastructure so that there can be no reasons why opportunities are lost.
It is in this regard he said that this country’s transportation system will see upgrades on a continuum “because we have to have an efficient transportation system.”
“We have to ensure we have to get that infrastructure in place so we can support that type of work,” Ali said as he relayed plans of an “elaborate integrated” road linkage network.
Asserting that government is very serious about its resources, Ali said that the company will be monitored continuously as they have signed on to ensuring that its agreement’s targets for employment of locals and corporate social responsibility are adhered to.
“They have committed themselves in writing to this,” the President disclosed.
Ali also said that the partnership yesterday was a testament that government is open for business to everyone since ironically, Guyson’s founder, a former long-serving PNC MP, Kadim ‘Kads’ Khan had been politically opposed to him. “We are here as a government to serve all, and to show the light and to create the path for investment.”
“You won’t believe that Mr Kads Khan actually campaigned against me you know,” he said in jest as he pointed to Khan.
But he noted that Khan’s son [Faizal Khan] “was strongly as supporting, but I must say that this shows the dimensions of families.”
The president hinted that another venture is in the pipeline with a Surinamese company on the East Coast of Demerara that would see some 1500 jobs created in the areas of processing, manufacturing, and beverage production. “This is another part of the puzzle in creating that new growth centre and pole along the east coast”, he said. This could have been a reference to Rudisa.
The Government of Guyana through the Guyana Office for Investment (G-Invest) had last year signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Caribbean International Distributors Inc, a member of the Rudisa Group of Companies, for the development of a US$35 million agro-processing facility at Enmore.
A joint release from G-Invest and Rudisa then, had stated that the facility was expected to engage in the production and packaging of various products, ranging from milk, natural fruit juices, and water, to a variety of bread products, such as hamburger rolls, biscuits, cookies, croissants, bagels and donuts to supply Guyana’s local and export markets.
The release added that the facility will employ approximately 600 persons and will be a significant boost to the businesses of local fruit and dairy farmers, who will be the chief suppliers, and Guyana’s capacity for the large- scale production of packaged fruit and dairy products.
“These are the kinds of investments we want to see in Guyana. The government and private sector are working closely to ensure that we bring agriculture to the forefront of our economy. Although Guyana is now an oil producing nation, we must use this as an enabler for the agriculture sector which is now taking off,” Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha was quoted as saying about the venture.
It had been expected that Rudisa would take over the Enmore packaging plant.
In a press statement yesterday, GKB stated that it aims to develop certified training programmes to aid in producing skilled and qualified employees.
“GKB is committed to also retraining the sugar workers who are experienced,” the company said.
“Our goal is to equip them with the necessary tools that will help to flourish their skills and services and have it regenerated back into the development of Guyana,” said Nick Becknell, head of sales for K&B Industries,” it added.
GKB acknowledged the continuous support of the Government of Guyana through G-Invest CEO, Dr Peter Ramsaroop; Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh; Office of the President, and President Ali.
All of the persons mentioned were in attendance yesterday and President Ali also singled them out for accolades, as he pointed out that he was thankful for the works they have done to help his government achieve their goals.
CEO of GKB, Faizal Khan declared, “GKB is committed to the Government of Guyana’s vision to build local capacity within the framework of Guyana’s local content legislation.”
