Ansa McAl concedes delay in announcing MoU with Guyana

Mar 01, 2012 News

…. says no deal signed yet with govt.

The Trinidad-based conglomerate Ansa McAl is insisting it has no secret deal with the Guyana Government to build an ethanol plant here, but is merely looking to see if such a project is possible.
However, company executives did agree that there was a delay in announcing it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the former Bharrat Jagdeo government to explore the possibility of setting up a world class ethanol plant that would create thousands of jobs.

Anthony Sabga 111 (left) and Aneal Maharaj at yesterday’s press conference.

Company executives flew into Guyana to clear the air on the issue and at a press conference held at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown, Ansa McAl executives said the multi-national company is putting TT$17M into the feasibility study.
If the study shows that the project is viable, the company said that it would be willing to put between TT$250M and TT$300M to get the project up and running.
Currently, the company said they have no partners.
In doing so, the company would need a huge expanse of land to plant whatever crop they choose with sugar cane being the preferred option at this time.
It was the Trinidad Guardian which over the weekend announced that the MoU was signed between the Government and Ansa McAl on September 30th, 2011.
The Guyana Government did not make the signing of the MoU public before.
The statement by Ansa McAl said that the agro-energy industrial project will be built on 110,000 (approx. 425 square miles) hectares of virgin land.
However, Ansa McAl’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Aneal Maharaj emphasised that the government has given the company no commitments thus far.
Anthony Sabga 111, the Business Development Executive emphasized that Ansa McAl could not at this time say definitely that it would go ahead with the project; that question could only be answered when the feasibility study is completed at the end of November this year.
Maharaj said that while a considerable amount of land would be needed, no amount has been finalized.
Ethanol is an alcohol-based alternative fuel that is blended with gasoline to produce a fuel with a higher octane rating and fewer harmful emissions than unblended gasoline.
If Ansa McAl decides to go ahead with the project, it would set up a world class plant that would be capable of producing 40 million gallons of ethanol annually. This would require two million tonnes of cane sugar.
Ansa McAl, which operates 60 companies, has assets of US$1.5B.
The company has been doing business in Guyana for the past 20 years, though formal operations were opened 12 years ago.
The Guyana operation was hailed as being highly successful.
Maharaj said that Guyana could become an “anchor point” for the Ansa McAl in the future.
He said that when the company planned to get into the alternative energy space, it considered Guyana because of its agricultural experience, having been planting sugar for the past 300 years.
If the project goes ahead, Maharaj said it could provide thousands of jobs, and would be a project run by the people of Guyana.
If sugar cane is used, given the current hardships with getting cane cutters, the company would be looking to undertake a mechanized system for harvesting the cane and this would require training, which would be provided.
The Ansa McAl Group is confident that if the project is successful, it would position Guyana as a leading player in the renewable energy space.