Skeldon factory tests so far successful

Oct 10, 2008 News

– first batch of sugar due today

By Gary Eleazar

The Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project (SSMP), more commonly referred to as the new Skeldon Sugar Factory, is nearer to its handing over. The state of the art facility, which is fully computer monitored and operated, successfully underwent its second round of testing, yesterday.
The first test that took place on Wednesday was a 12-hour continuous run and after experiencing no hiccups, the contractors, CNTIC, under the watchful eye of the Vice President of the Company, Zhang Guodong, went ahead with a 24-hour continuous run.

From left Minister Robert Persaud, CNTIC Vice President Zhang Guodong, and GAWU President Komal Chand tour the facility during its test run yesterday

The testing process will continue progressively until both CNTIC and the Guyana Sugar Corporation are satisfied with the results. This will determine when the facility will be handed over.
Minister with responsibility for Agriculture, and President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union, Komal Chand, and a plethora of media operatives yesterday toured the facility during the second test run and it was observed that all of the equipment appeared to be functioning efficiently.
Guodong said that, during the past week, there were a couple of trial runs but on Wednesday, for the first time, the factory operated for a sustained period of more than 10 hours.
He noted that at present the factory, which is still not operating at full capacity given that it is still in the trial run phase, consumes in the vicinity of 1,500 tonnes of sugar cane per day.
He emphasised, however, that at full capacity the factory will be utilising some 8,400 tonnes of sugar cane per day.
Regarding the hiccups over the last few months that had caused concern to the point that GuySuCo contemplated legal options, Guodong said that the problems, though partly technical, had to do with a lot of ‘mix ups’ in that there were some problems shipping resources– human, technical and otherwise–to Guyana. Weather was also identified as a hurdle.
He did note that at the moment, “Everything was ok…everything was working well.”
The CNTIC Vice President emphasized, however, that this was a critical juncture given that local personnel will now have to be adequately trained to operate the factory efficiently, and allow for the transition embedded in the takeover by GuySuCo.
“We need more local operators to learn how to operate and maintain (the equipment).”
Minister Persaud did assure Guodong that one shift of workers at the old factory will be committed to the new factory for training.
According to Persaud, he was assured by the Chinese that despite the hiccups in the initial stages, the test would be done successfully.
He reiterated that the factory would not be accepted until all and sundry could be satisfied that the facility “is at a very functional level.”
According to Persaud, despite the successful test indicating that there has been significant progress, “we were not yet out of the woods because the tests were not completed,” given that there were still several progressive tests on the cards.
He did also express his optimism that the weather would ‘hold up’, given that had there been a more abundant supply of cane for yesterday’s test which could have been more extensive.
Persaud did note that should the cane supply become a problem, supplies will have to be sourced from nearby estates.
Based on the tests conducted, the first batch of sugar that will be produced by the factory should be churned out today and if all goes well with the tests, the factory will be handed over within a matter of weeks.
Persaud did note that he was dissatisfied at the delay but was optimistic that the factory would be fully operational as soon as possible so that it would complement the national production level which is already under scrutiny.
“I will not be satisfied until we see sugar coming out of the factory for commercial purposes…We will be pushing back the formal opening ceremony but we do hope that by the end of this first crop (of sugar) we will be producing sugar to improve our (country’s) performance.”

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