APNU+AFC MP Vinceroy Jordan is calling for a Commission of Inquiry into the $600 million spent by the Ministry of Agriculture to rehabilitate the powerhouse damaged at the Albion Sugar Estate factory in February of this year.
In a statement to the Sunday Stabroek yesterday, Jordan expressed concerns about the expenditure, especially after GuySuCo initially estimated the repair cost for the control room at $50 million. During the National Assembly sitting on Friday, the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha revealed that the actual repair costs amounted to $600 million and promised to provide a detailed cost breakdown to the Opposition MP.
This a huge sum which had never been stated before by GuySuCo or the Ministry of Agriculture. It also underlines how serious the fire was and raises questions about culpability.
Jordan is also seeking clarity on who will be held accountable for the apparent electrical fire. He believes that a Commission of Inquiry would enable independent experts to investigate not only the cause of the fire but also the procurement process and the repair work itself.
The fire on February 3rd at the power plant of the Albion Sugar Factory caused serious damage, according to a statement 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 section of the low voltage bus bar and several major section of the circuitry”.
GuySuCo had 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”.
No grinding was done at Albion for the first crop because of the fire.
GuySuCo had also said that it was in the process of concluding the needs assessment, and was working to procure the necessary replacement panels and other items. 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 operating procedures within the factory were immediately set into motion and the Guyana Fire Service was contacted, it said. 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.
