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The Skeldon Sugar Factory and its implication for Guyana

Nov 12, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am writing this letter hoping that those who are duly responsible read and do something quickly to save the industry, and by so doing save our country. I make mention of the ongoing problems at the Skeldon Sugar Factory with no light at the end of the tunnel.
Skeldon marks the single largest investment by the Government so far which amounts to over US$200 million with the sole purpose of building an ultra modern facility that would produce sugar as well as supply electricity to the national grid. To date none of this exists or at least at the level for which the factory was set up to do.
What we have is a litany of technical faults for which the Chinese manufacturer seems not to have a clue. This situation has been in existence for close to five years now with the technical team from China making excuses after excuses something which the Government of the day seems to buy into whilst the country keeps on haemorrhaging scarce resources.
The stark reality is that sugar is not just another industry, it is the industry on which the livelihoods of thousands depend in the form of direct employment, and as the backbone to our very existence as a nation everything revolves around sugar.
And to have the Chinese pussyfooting with an experiment that has long gone failed is unacceptable under any circumstances.
Sugar manufacture is not an expertise of the Chinese and I do not see why the Government gave them the contract to build that factory in the first place. The form of technology required at Skeldon falls outside the scope of Chinese scientific capacity and there is no assurance on their part that can allay my fears about that.
What the Government is relying on is the friendly relations that we have with China and the various investments they have made in our country such as the US$30M lap top initiative, but these projects cannot outweigh the massive squander of our limited resources on the project at Skeldon, which has far reaching implications.
For a small nation like ours struggling to find its way in a mean and hostile global environment we just cannot afford such an expensive waste.
I have indicated in a previous letter that the technologically sound Taiwanese are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to step in and repair the breach left by the Chinese.
They have done it here in St Lucia, and other countries such as St Vincent and St Kitts. It is not a situation wherein Guyana is replacing one failure with another certainly not; the Taiwanese have proven themselves to be worthy partners in the development of third world states like ours.
I can attest to the fact here in St Lucia where the Taiwanese came just in time to the rescue of the St Lucian Government in the construction of two health institutions.
They are now in the agricultural sector making massive investment there also. So let us not allow a mere US$30M lap top investment by the Chinese to obscure our view of the bigger picture with the Taiwanese.
Neil Adams

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