The fire on Saturday, February 3rd at the power plant of the Albion Sugar Factory caused serious damage, according to a statement yesterday from GuySuCo.
The statement said that the preliminary report on the fire “revealed serious damage to crucial electrical infrastructure in the Powerhouse, including the 4 megawatts generating control panel, 2.5 megawatts generating control panels, 700 kilowatts low voltage cap set control panel, 3.3 kv interbus transformer, interbus transformer barker, a sections of the low voltage bus bar and several major section of the circuitry”.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) said that at a minimum “large sections of the wiring have to be replaced along with the damaged panels, and all of the breakers, and other components, in order to return the factory to a state of readiness to grind sugar in the First Crop of 2024”.
GuySuCo said that it is in the process of concluding the needs assessment, and is working to procure the necessary replacement panels and other items. It said that it will provide further updates on the progress of the rebuilding.
It said that the fire at around 12:30 pm occurred in the lower section of the Power Plant at the Albion Sugar Factory.
Standard operation procedures within the factory were immediately set into motion and the Guyana Fire Service was contacted. The response from the Guyana Fire Service was almost immediate from the Rose Hall Town Fire Station, resulting in the containment of the blaze within two hours, the statement said.
The Corporation expressed its gratitude to the Internal Fire Team and the Guyana Fire Service for their swift action.
“The Corporation would like to take this opportunity to assure the sugar workers, factory workers, all other employees and the country that it will work without fail to rebuild and repair the Albion Sugar Factory as soon as possible. From the Occupational, Health and Safety Report, there were no injuries and the superstructure of the Power House was not compromised and remains a safe working environment. The Fire Service has since concluded their investigation and issued the certificate to return to the building”, the statement added.
Sources say that the corporation is hoping that the repair work will be completed by March 20.
The damage is estimated to be around $50m.
