Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project...Factory commissioning set for Oct. 5

Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project…Factory commissioning set for Oct. 5

Aug 26, 2008 News

Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud yesterday confirmed that the formal commissioning of the modern Skeldon Sugar factory has been pushed back to October 5. Persaud noted that there was no delay in the functioning of the factory, explaining that testing is ongoing at the factory.
According to Persaud, the commissioning is just a formality. When the senior functionaries of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) met with the Economic Services Committee to clarify several outstanding issues relative to the Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Plant, one such issue raised was the delay in the projected start-up date, given that it was supposed to have been in 2006 and was behind schedule.
Persaud, at that time, told the committee that there was never an agreement to deliver the factory in 2006.
The Agriculture Minister told the committee that, originally, the project was conceived in the late nineties, but due to Guyana being classified as a HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country), the start of the project was delayed until 2004.
To compound the situation, there was inclement weather in early 2005. The contracts were signed at the end of January that year.
“The original date for completion was October 2007…Due to increased piling and other delays, due to weather and visa issues, the project was, at that time, due for completion on August 2, 2008.”
A minimum of 1,365 hectares of land with cultivated cane is required for the start-up of the new factory.
312 hours of operation at 350 tonnes of cane per hour would require 109,200 tonnes of cane, which would relate to 80 tonnes cane per hectare.
As it relates to the prognosis on the cost of production, the factory had downtimes ranging from 10 to 40 per cent, waiting for cane during the crop year.
Persaud said that, “The factory is designed to have more capacity than the cane available on the estate, as the factory was expanded by a factor of four whilst the estate was expanded by only a factor of three…This was because the estate was expanded with mechanisation as the key factor, which requires dry weather.
Therefore, when there is wet weather, the factory will stop grinding, and once dry (weather resumes,) will be able to catch up…The factory is designed to operate for 25 weeks per year at full capacity.”

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Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project…Factory commissioning set for Oct. 5

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Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project…Factory commissioning set for Oct. 5

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