Latest update January 18th, 2025 6:34 AM
Trinidadian investor still to upgrade local port of entry
…signed MOU more than one month ago
By Gary Eleazar
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud (left) among others during his visit to the now defunct Morawhanna facility, which is hoped to be resuscitated
More than a month after a Trinidadian investor signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Agriculture, work is yet to commence at the international port of entry at Morawhanna in Region One.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud yesterday visited the facility and voiced his concern about the slothfulness with which the investor is approaching his commitment pointing out that the delay is detrimental to the livelihood of the people that depend on the facility.
At present, the fisher folk have been most heavily hit by the non-functioning of the facility given that it produced ice, which is required by them to ply their trade.
Persaud visited the port after receiving reports that it was not functioning in its capacity as an ice processing plant, a situation that is detrimental to the fishing industry in the Region
According to Persaud, the Ministry as well as Go Invest are yet to make contact with him about the delay.
The Agriculture Minister said that they had put up the facility for private management given that they could not afford to maintain the facility and the investor would have paid rental.
He noted that Government is investing a lot in Region One and as such is eager to have the facility up and running and that a clear timeline is needed from the investors.
Government is set to benefit from the rental of the facility.
Persaud pointed out that the provisions for rental are dependent on the scale of the investment.
The port has been declared a port of entry and the necessary requirements such as customs will soon be in place but to date none of the upgrading work has been put in place.
According to Persaud, the Trinidadian proposal was to produce the ice for the fishermen as well as turn it into a processing and packaging plant as well as facilitates the shipment of produce out of Region One.
CARICOM member states have indicated an interest in the acquisition of the produce.
For several years the idea of having produce from region shipped directly to CARICOM states among others has been mooted but this is yet to be realised.
This newspaper understands that the only business conducted by the Trinidadian was the sale of fuel from a vessel that he had moored at the Morawhanna wharf.
He was reportedly selling the fuel for some $22,000 per drum.
During yesterday’s visit by the Minister the facility was observed to be effectively non functional and in a dire state of disrepair but its importance to the region is fuelling the desire to have it renovated and running to full capacity.
Morawhanna is a small fishing/farming community in the Barima River in Region One, close to the Venezuelan border. Its residents are currently of the view that they have been abandoned.
One reason is the fact that the fishing complex that provided the several fishermen from neighbouring communities with a facility to preserve their catch so that they can be transported to far-flung areas such as Port Kaituma, is no longer operational and the promise of new Trinidadian ownership now seems elusive.
The complex has been closed for several months now and no change is in sight, according to one of the residents.
According to Persaud, the plan is to make that point a key Caribbean agriculture export port and food processing facility.
“Getting this facility up and running is part of the strategic plan for agriculture development in Region One,” according to Persaud.
Recently, when this publication, visited the locale, one resident had said “it is as if Morawhanna is the village that the administration forgot.
The complex had provided desperately needed employment for several in the village plus the spin-off benefit of persons mooring at the complex to conduct business at the few shops that exist.
“Ever since that place close, business just get very slow.”
The Guyana Oil Company (GUYOIL) has also shut shop in that community and has abandoned a depot that it had in place to provide fuel for fishermen and others in the community.
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