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Jagdeo’s latest secret…Ansa Mc Al team heads to Guyana to ‘clear the air’ on ethanol plant
…project targets prime land in Canje, Berbice
A high level team from Trinidad and Tobago is expected in Guyana on
Beverly Harper, Managing Director of Ansa McALTrading in Guyana receives the Chairman's Award 2009 from Andrew Sabga, Beverage Sector Head of the Ansa McAL Group
Wednesday to address the necessary issues and to make disclosures about the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Government of Guyana and Ansa McAl Group of Companies.
This is according to the Managing Director of the local subsidiary of the 64-member group of companies, Beverly Harper, when pressed by this publication about the MoU and the proposed plant.
While she said that there was not much she could disclose about the affair, she did stress that at present there is only a feasibility study being undertaken to determine the viability of such an ethanol plant.
The Director stated that at present there are no financing arrangements in place and that the land for which the agreement with the Government has been inked is for 110,000 hectares (approx. 425 square miles) of virgin land in the Canjie Basin.
Harper said that in the agreement with the Government, no lands already under cultivation for the use of agriculture could have been utilized.
The operation of the sugarcane fields, which has proved to be a dilemma for the Guyana Sugar Corporation for decades, will in this case be heavily mechanized.
The plant is expected to focus its production on export but there are signs that the administration maybe moving to legislate the mandatory use of an ethanol/gasoline.
When contacted yesterday, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Energy Agency Mahender Sharma which would regulate and monitor the operations of the ethanol plant requested that all questions be sent to him in writing.
He refused to divulge any information.
Vidya King, Anthony Sabga III Assistant in Trinidad and Tobago told this publication that he would be unavailable until Monday.
Melissa Chambers, the Project Manager for the group of Companies and who also based in Trinidad and Tobago said that she was not authorized to make any pronouncement on the issue.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon
The MoU was signed by Anthony N Sabga III, business development executive, Ansa McAl Group, Dr Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and former Desmond Mohamed, chief executive officer of Guyana Office for Investment.
It was witnessed by Robert M Persaud, Minister of Environment, Aneal Maharaj, Group finance director, Ansa McAl. and Beverley Harper, managing director Ansa McAl Trading Guyana.
The agreement was signed last September 30, but never reported to the Guyanese public.
Neighbouring Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of ethanol fuel and the world’s largest exporter.
Together, Brazil and the United States lead the industrial production of ethanol fuel, accounting together for 87.8 per cent of the world’s production in 2010.
In 2010 Brazil produced 26.2 billion litres (6.92 billion U.S. liquid gallons), representing 30 per cent of the world’s total ethanol used as fuel.
The proposed ethanol plant is projected to have a capacity to process up to two million tons of sugarcane per year and produce up to 40 million gallons (nameplate capacity) of ethanol per year,” according to a company statement.
This agro-energy industrial project will be built on 110,000 hectares of virgin land, according to the statement. As a strategy for economic development, the Guyana government has adopted a policy to foster the development of economic activities in the country in an efficient, environmentally safe and sustainable manner.
Up to press time last evening the Guyana government was still silent on the matter.
Robert Persaud who was the Agriculture Minister at the time deferred all questions to the head of the Presidential Secretariat.
Efforts to contact Dr Luncheon proved futile.
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