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Ramotar to name new GuySuCo board

Jul 03, 2012 News

 

President Donald Ramotar is slated to name a new board to oversee the operations of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) as the industry struggles to have something sweet to talk about.
The Corporation’s biggest headache is the Skeldon Estate, which was commissioned in August 2009 at a cost of US$181 million, but has failed to live up to expectations.
Originally, GuySuCo had put US$70 million into the project, Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy has stated.
Now, the Corporation is looking to spend US$8 million to fix various faults at the estate.
Opposition parties had called for the board of GuySuCo to be replaced with professionals so the industry could be better managed.
Dr Ramsammy told Kaieteur News that the President will name a new board by the end of this year. However, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, of the opposition coalition APNU, feels that the board should be replaced immediately.
A South African firm has been hired by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to help ensure that the Skeldon Sugar estate is fully operational.
The company, Bosch, is being paid US$130,000 to design the modifications that are needed at the Skeldon plant.
The South African firm is looking to design the modifications of three main aspects of the factory, the GuySuCo CEO told Kaieteur News. He said these are the bagasse plow (the feeder system, that leads to the boiler), the conveyor system and the condensate tank.
Dr Ramsammy said that the plan to fix most of the design flaws of the factory commenced this out of crop period and is expected to be completed by the first crop in 2013.
“A decision has not yet been taken on correcting the problems with the punt dumper. The defects which will be fixed are those in relation to the bagasse feeding system, the cane conveyor system, installing a condensate tank and obtaining a clean water supply to the factory,” Ramsammy stated.
According to Ramsammy, Bosch has started design work from their headquarters in South Africa and they are also procuring materials for the work to be done at Skeldon.
The Minister said the actual work at the site will start in September.
According to Ramsammy, Bosch will have about three persons on the ground supervising the work, with the actual work being done by local contractors.
The establishment of the Skeldon factory was part of a modernisation plan by GuySuCo that was not achieved. The project involves expanded cane cultivations, the establishment of a refinery, and the co-generation of electricity for the national grid.
The factory was constructed with a combination of self-generated funds and loans from the Caribbean Development Bank, the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Guyana. The Project Engineer was Booker Tate, UK Ltd and the Contractor was CNTIC Ltd. The Skeldon estate was designed to produce 110,000 tonnes of sugar per annum. In 2010, production was 33,237 tonnes and in 2011, production was 29,410 tonnes.
According to Dr Ramsammy, attaining the full operation depends on the defects of the factory being fixed and addressing the field issues.
He said that the mechanization of the field operation now means that the weather conditions will have a greater impact on operation and this has been a major impact in 2011 and so far in 2012.

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