Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha asserted that 1,100 sugar workers will be rehired at the Rose Hall estate next month as opposition Members of Parliament continued to question outlays to GuySuCo.
He made this announcement during the 67th sitting of the National Assembly yesterday where both Government and Opposition Members debated extensively on financial paper # 3 for supplementary funding to the tune of $61 billion for the period December 31st, 2023.
As the current and capital estimates were up for consideration before the parliamentary Committee of Supply, much attention was directed towards the agriculture sector.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation after receiving a voted provision of $2 billion at this year’s fiscal plan, will see a further $1.5b to facilitate the rehabilitation of 1,572 hectares of temporarily abandoned lands at the Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall & Uitvlugt estates.
APNU+AFC Member Khemraj Ramjattan however questioned this rationale but Mustapha told the National Assembly that this recourse was taken since the Rose Hall estate will be operational in September.
“We have employed approximately 1,100 workers that were fired by the Granger administration”, he said.
He also noted that more than 4,000 hectares of cane have been replanted at this estate and the government expects that 56,000 tonnes of sugar would be produced next year.
Earlier this year, when the National Assembly was considering the 2023 fiscal plan Mustapha said $1.195 billion will be used to support the re-opening of this estate.
He added that his administration has embarked on a tissue culture programme which involves the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute, with an additional provision of $438 million.
APNU+AFC MP Vinceroy Jordan asked the subject minister to give viable explanations for seeking an additional $4 billion to facilitate urgent drainage and irrigation works in regions 2, 3,4, 5 and 10 when $6 billion was already allocated towards NDIA.
Jordan noted that many irrigation and drainage structures in these regions are currently in a deplorable state despite works by the former Government.
He also chastised the government for not developing several perceived pro-coalition local authority areas in Region 5
Mustapha in response to this rapped the opposition parliamentarian for misleading the National Assembly as drainage and irrigation works were conducted in these areas.
However, in the same breath, the subject minister said that more works will be conducted in these communities.
GuySuCo was another eyebrow raiser for the parliamentary opposition since $2B was already allocated towards the government organization.
Ramjattan & Jordan questioned the rationale behind the government ‘s intention of seeking an additional 1.5 billion to facilitate the rehabilitation of 1,572 hectares of temporarily abandoned lands at the Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall & Uitvlugt estates since the local sugar industry is deemed non-profitable.
Mustapha said that due to the closure of these estates by the David Granger-led administration, his administration decided to seek this recourse of rehabilitating these lands to forego re-cultivation of sugar-cane.
According to him, the country has a thriving sugar industry which was rubbished by the opposition.
In relation to the Public Works Sector, after receiving a sum of $6oo million to facilitate works on the Demerara Harbour Bridge, in the 2023 fiscal plan an additional sum of $568m is expected to go towards critical rehabilitation, specifically the rehabilitation and fabrication of the high span & pontoons.
Opposition Parliamentarian Annette Ferguson, questioned the rationale for this considering the fact that works are currently ongoing on the bridge.
Back in July the Demerara Harbour Bridge was closed for three days to facilitate the replacement of Span Nine which has been deteriorating periodically due to heavy traffic and age.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill posited that the additional sum was necessary since the bridge was haphazardly done by the former APNU+AFC government, which he claimed posed danger for commuters,
