Several hiccups as Skeldon Factory restarts - GuySuCo CEO

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Several hiccups as Skeldon Factory restarts – GuySuCo CEO

Aug 28, 2013 News

The problem-plagued US$200M Skeldon Sugar Factory has been up and running since last Saturday, but certainly not without several hiccups.
According to Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Paul Bhim, the encountered problems were resolved. He declined to say what the problems were, but noted that there have been continuous repairs.
Fixtures on the problematic punt dumper however, may not be completed until the next “out-of-crop” season, during December/January.
Bhim said that information on the amount of cane processed at the Skeldon factory thus far was not readily available, but promised to give an update during the course of this week.
The Skeldon Sugar Factory’s 2013 target is 400,000 tonnes of cane. This is equivalent to 36,000 tonnes of sugar. Both Bhim, and the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, are hopeful that the mark will be met.
Shortly after it was commissioned in 2009, functions at the facility had to be halted in order to aid repairs. These were carried out by South Africa’s Bosch Engineering at an additional cost of US $3M.
Because of the hefty amount of money spent, and the fact that a number of aspects had to be repaired soon after construction, the factory was labeled as a “let down”. And like several other projects undertaken by the state, the construction of the Skeldon factory project saw questions raised as to whether Guyana had received value for its money.
Financing for the factory came from a mixture of state funds, grants from the European Union (EU) and loans from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and World Bank.
It was reported that even if the factory never begins producing sugar to its optimum, as is currently the case, Guyana still has to repay the loans.
The Skeldon factory, one of Guyana’s most costly projects, was the effort made by the Guyana government to salvage what is left of the suffering sugar industry which has, over the years, been seen to be spiraling downwards.
Production for the first crop of this year plunged to approximately 23,000 tonnes or more below the target, and despite prices offered by Europe – Guyana’s biggest customer – being almost double on the world market, poor production has continued to threaten the viability of the industry.
Those who remain employed with the Corporation are worried about the outcome of the approaching crop, since it would determine whether or not they would receive bonuses.

1 thoughts on “Several hiccups as Skeldon Factory restarts – GuySuCo CEO”

besmart August 28, 2013 at 10:16 am

Why is Bar-Rat not held accountable and put in jail for this project..Common enough is enough. All the protesters and investigators are a big joke.The big boys are just buying time so that they can walk away free, And we all know that is the truth The law is there use it and do not let the crooks abuse it.

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