Ramsammy says Skeldon estate meeting its potential

Oct 08, 2012 News

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– lashes out at critics during visit to facility

By Leon Suseran
Minister of Agriculture, Dr Leslie Ramsammy lashed out at critics of the Skeldon Sugar Estate during a tour and inspection of the facility last Saturday.
“I don’t know, then, what is a white elephant, because this seems like a factory that is meeting its potential and indeed, we are certain that our next milestone will be reached,” the Minister said.
“Not only did they say the production of 400,000 tonnes this year was a utopian dream, but Skeldon will not work because Skeldon [estate] was designed as a flag- ship of this vision.
“Today, we see Skeldon, since its commissioning in August 2009, is now demonstrating to the Guyanese public, its potential”.
Ramsammy and a team of estate officials as well as several members of the media toured and inspected the Skeldon Sugar Factory, which has been the focus of much controversy and whose operations have come under scrutiny over the past months. He also toured the Skeldon Co-Generation facility.
He was accompanied by Kim de Freitas, Human Resources Manager; Rama Persaud, Finance Manager; Ravindra Punwa, Agri Manager (Crops); Clarence Burnett, Agri Manager (Harvest & Tillage); Karamchand Bramdeo, Estate Manager; Sherlock Bailey, Agri Manager (Projects) and Deodat Ompertab, Factory Manager.
“It is true that this factory had major design work done by our international friends and partners, and that design has had to endure some innovations that have been ongoing and continued today,” Ramsammy said.
According to him, the innovations added to the design to the factory have led Skeldon estate to the point where it is today. He praised the good weather and said that for the first time Skeldon exceeded a production of 2,500 tonnes.
“It’s a remarkable achievement because for those naysayers who have described this as a ‘white elephant’, that is more than two times what Skeldon’s old factory was capable of ever producing and yet I have managers who are beaming because they are convinced that they can surpass the 2,500″.
The day they surpass that amount, Ramsammy said, he will return and share a toast with them. Skeldon as of the past weekend, he said, exceeded 13,000 tonnes for this crop and has approached 20,000 tonnes for the year so far. The target is 34,000 tonnes for the year; and the target for this crop is approximately 27,000 tonnes and “it means that for this crop, we need about 14,000 tonnes more and for the year, and if we meet the 14,000 tonnes for this crop, we would not only surpass this crop’s target, we would have surpassed the annual target for Skeldon”.
He said that if 2,500 tonnes can be produced for the week, for each week remaining in the crop, “it will give us 18,000 more, minimum for the year, which means we are on target on surpassing their target”.
Ramsammy then alluded to why the factory has surpassed certain targets in the days gone by.
“Is it because the government has invested an additional $4B for some of the design modifications?”
Bosch Engineers, he said, has started their work, but not on site. He stated that Bosh has done nothing to the factory and that they are doing some design “desk-work and fabrication work off-site”.
The factory, which media personnel and the minister toured on Saturday, therefore, was not the factory that Bosch Engineers modified.
“It’s the same factory almost after commission; it is some innovations that were added to the factory, and these innovations have led to some significant impacts in production”.
Ramsammy said that no extra money had to be spent on improving the Skeldon Factory.
“No capital investment was necessary. Whatever monies had to be spent on improving the factory was done within the normal stipulated budget.” He did not commit to a financial figure.
One of the innovations, he said, has to do with the cleanliness of the cane. The washing of the canes, he said, is now being done with water provided by the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and is being done by professionals. Ramsammy praised the managers of the estate and stated that the public has been too hard on them. “I think to be fair, we must also give them credit— give Jack his jacket!” He said that he was especially proud of the work of those managers and the professionals at the factory, “because they have done a marvelous job…that is the main purpose of my visit to Skeldon, not only to show people the factory is really working but I want to come and show people who are making this happen”.
“This factory is not a perfect factory and during our tour, the managers were telling me all the little things they need to do”, he said.
CO-GENERATION PLANT
And he said that the co-generation plant is intended to generate energy to the national grid and is working to 90 per cent capacity; 11 megawatts… this is another point of criticism, where they (the critics) say that co-gen has never worked, but I brought you here to show that the co- gen plant is not only working but is also working up to 90 per cent of its capacity and at 11 megawatts. We expect that at this time next year that that will be significantly higher, in excess of 20 megawatts…this is the kind of success story that demonstrates that GuySuCo’s ability to produce 400,000 tonnes and contributing energy to the national grid is not a left-field, donkey type of target…it’s a real target, reachable and we are getting there.
“I speak to our detractors! I say that when Skeldon reaches its optimal production and GuySuCo reaches its target, it will be good for Guyana and whilst our detractors will always be there, the benefits will be to all Guyanese”. He urged the Guyanese people to hold the government accountable to the promises and operations of Skeldon Estate but asked that the Guyanese people also be fair. “You have not been fair, so I ask the media…you must help us; don’t misinterpret and misinform people”.
Ramsammy said that most of the sugar from the Skeldon Factory is going into the export market.
“Bulk sugar is the way to go now and right now Guyana has two markets, throughout CariCom and Europe and those two markets for our sugar supply bulk sugar and packaged sugar”.

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