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US$5M agri-investment on hold due to bad infrastructure

Nov 20, 2008 News

Lack of infrastructural development is hampering investments in the agriculture sector, with businessman Hemraj Kissoon claiming that a US$5M investment cannot go forward.
Kissoon’s complaint comes even as Guyana plans another agro-investment forum, this time in New York.
In June, Guyana hosted a Caribbean-wide investment forum, with businessmen from across the region seeking financing for their investment projects.
Kissoon was one of them. He went to the June conference seeking financing for the development of the Abary Cattle Ranch Company, located within the Intermediate Savannahs of Guyana.
Kissoon is better known for the furniture store A.H&L Kissoon, but the company has held over 13,000 acres of land in the Abary River since 1977. The ranch was first owned by the British Government in 1915, but was privatised. The Kissoons are the third private owners of the ranch.
Kissoon went to the June conference looking for US$5M in capital investment to expand into sheep rearing, aquaculture, and the cultivation of 5,000 acres of rice. Sure enough, he found investors, and three of them are in the waiting line.
The problem? Kissoon told Kaieteur News that lack of infrastructure development is preventing the project from going ahead, since financiers will not throw money at a project where the infrastructure is not developed.
“The road to the ranch is not suitable for taking in the inputs for the development, much less bring the production out,” he declared.
What exists, he said, is a mud dam which the company uses to transport cattle out. Currently, the ranch has about 4,000 head of cattle.
The ranch falls with the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary Agriculture Development Authority (MMA/ADA) scheme, and therefore the Authority has responsibility for developing the area.  The MMA/ADA relies on Central Government for funds.
Kissoon said that the development of the 10-mile mud dam into a proper road will not only benefit him, but all of those who own lands along the way. His plot is located towards the end of the dam.
Kissoon said the feasibility study for his project has shown that the capital investment could be cleared within the first five years of operation, as the investment is in projects that have high returns.
President Bharrat Jagdeo is slated to attend the New York agro investment forum later this month. The forum is being organised by the New Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) and the Guyana Consulate in New York.
It will be held at Naresa’s Palace, 116-14 Rockaway Boulevard, South Ozone Park, and more than 300 members of the New York business community are expected to attend.

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