The Rose Hall Estate had a successful steam trial done last month with management and staff geared up for the estate’s official opening for the second crop of this year.
Estate Manager, Vijay Goberdhan told Stabroek News in an exclusive interview that the steam trial which was carried out on June 26 was a massive success with ten punts going through the factory.
He explained, that the purpose of the steam trial was to see whether there were any issues, and according to him some minor ones which were discovered were immediately fixed. As such, he said, that they are continuing work for the official opening which is expected to be done in late August in time for the second crop in early September.
The reopening of the Rose Hall Estate and two others had been a major manifesto promise of the PPP/C Government, and last month’s steam trial quickly alerted residents as smoke was seen emanating from the chimney signaling to residents that the re-opening is near.
In January of this year, Goberdhan had said that 70% of work was completed at the estate inclusive of major changes in the factory. He stated that in September 2020, based on instructions from the present government an assessment of the factory was carried out of what exactly needed to be done, and it was discovered that a total rehabilitation of all the equipment including the structures was necessary, “and to date, we have completed 70% of the rehab which is including the building and equipment” along with field works he said in January.
According to Goberdhan, they were expecting to move to test the equipment which was expected to happen before June, and with the steam trial, this was done on time as planned. “By which time we should be able to do a complete test of the factory in preparation to start the second crop.”
Detailing the works carried out on the factory’s infrastructure during that interview, Goberdhan, a mechanical engineer himself, had explained, that they had replaced the entire roof of the “process house, the boiler, pre-milling, the mills… In terms of equipment, the cane carriers, we had to totally refurbish the structures, replace the chains, we replaced one of the knives, the first cane knife to be upgraded to horsepower rating so that we can get better cane preparation, we’re also putting in a new carrier control system to have better control and feeding operations to the mill, total refurbishing of the mills, changing of undersized mill rolls and worn mill rolls.”
In terms of the boilers, Goberdhan had noted that the process was ongoing to re-tube two boilers, while they were aiming to include a water management control system “so the boiler could be operated in a more automated manner when the factory starts in the second crop.”
This newspaper was told that before the closure of the estate, automation was not in place. As such this is one of the new transformational aspects of rebuilding the factory.
“We are moving to upgrade that system like in modern boilers so that we can have better steam control which will have a better operation in the supply of steam to the turbines and processing department.”
Additionally, the estate manager had noted that they had acquired an automated hot liming system for the juice, while they were also in the process of doing a major overhaul of the “main power generating turbine, the two five-megawatt turbines, in the powerhouse.”
An air heater was also being installed on the number two boiler to improve efficiency. “The air heater preheats the air that is used to generate the combustion… Initially, the boiler was without an air heater but we locally fabricated this with local skills and we’re putting it together”, he had said. Goberdhan had also disclosed that they had acquired a new diesel generator for the powerhouse to replace the Blackstone generator which has been at the location for over thirty-five years. They have replaced seven pumps in the process department and were looking to procure five more this year.
Goberdhan stressed that they carried out replacement works throughout the factory but particularly the process house, “platforms, structures that support the condensers, structures that support the general service water tank, these were all exposed on the outside. They got deteriorated because no maintenance was done to them.”
Touching on the number two chimney which was in a state of near collapse when the process of reopening commenced, Goberdhan said that they took the structure down and replaced it. According to him, a total refurbishing of the cane gantry structure was also done, the deteriorated molasses storage tank is being rebuilt and one of the backing pans in the process house is being replaced.
Tillage
Meanwhile, a massive tillage plan was being undertaken at the estate as they move ahead to prepare for the second crop. In addition, a private contractor has been brought on board to assist with the tillage programme.
Nazir Saccoor, Agriculture Manager, detailing the process thus far, pointed out that the first step was clearing the abandoned fields and the blocked canals to bring the area into a state of readiness for tillage.
He had said that since the commencement of the tillage process, they have done 1050 hectares and planted 944 hectares. At that time, the estate had four “old machines” to carry out the process.
However, last year with the intervention of GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer, Sasenarine Singh they were able to acquire five new machines, moving the tillage fleet to nine and ultimately boosting the operations in the fields.
This year they were looking to till 1999 hectares and plant 2104 hectares.
The estate also acquired a mechanical planter and will be purchasing mechanical harvesting equipment – both systems although utilised in the industry were never employed at the Rose Hall Estate.
The private contractor was expected to cover over 1,000 hectares to facilitate the mechanical harvester to work on the land.
Maintenance was also carried out in drainage pumps that serve the Canje community and estate’s cultivation, while an ambulance was being completely refurbished for the estate’s dispensary, and major works were done on the fertilizer bond and field lab.
