No haphazard doling out of sugar lands- Harmon

Jan 27, 2018 News

Sugar lands will not be given out without proper structures and transparency in place, Government says.

Lands freed up during the privatisation and divestment process of the sugar industry will not be given out in a haphazard manner.
In fact, the process is being carefully handled with evaluation being carried out by international consultants, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The issue was raised yesterday at the post-Cabinet press briefings hosted by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.
He said that Government is exploring the possibility of providing lands to retrenched sugar workers for agricultural purposes.
However, the lands will be allocated in a structured way, following valuation of GuySuCo’s assets.
Sugar workers who have been displaced have been signalling intentions for lands for farming and even cane planting.
Last week, Government and the two unions representing the sugar workers, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), met and discussed several proposals.
It is the unions’ belief that the proposals can return the industry to viability, the Minister disclosed.
Among other things discussed during the meeting which was chaired by President David Granger, last week, was the infusion of private capital through partnerships, the issuance of bonds and other investment tools and funding through the Guyana Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).
According to Harmon, yesterday, the unions agreed that privatisation was an option to be pursued but advised that maximum value should be sought for the assets “through the sale of estates as going concerns. The right of sugar workers must be guaranteed under any new arrangements within the industry,” they said.
The Minister explained that Government, in the White Paper on the Sugar Industry, which was laid in the National Assembly, made it clear that the “new GuySuCo” will be a three-estate entity along with the related facilities and that the other identified estates would be placed for divestment.
“Those estates which do not form part of the three-estate operation of GuySuCo and the assets, have been placed under the stewardship of the NICIL and an entity established under NICIL called the Special Purposes Unit (SPU).”
He noted further that “the SPU now has superintendence of those matters which are not part of the three-estate new GuySuCo… The GuySuCo that remains with the three estates will certainly need to have the management and the board addressed.”
Government is now awaiting information that will allow it to make certain decisions related to the management structure of the “New GuySuCo”, he said.
Minister Harmon assured that with the provision of this information Government will be able to make a public statement on the matter within a short time.
Almost 4,000 sugar workers from Wales, Enmore, Skeldon and Rose Hall estates have been displaced with the closures of the estates.
SPU, which is headed by Guyanese/Jamaican economist, Colvin Heath-London, has been pushing for the estates to remain open.
Sugar has been the mainstay for mainly a number of Indian-dominated communities on the coastlands but has been making some crushing losses.
With little options, consecutive governments have been forced to release billions of dollars annually to prop up GuySuCo.
However, production has been falling.
The Opposition People’s Progressive Party has been whipping up their supporters accusing the Government of putting them on the breadline.
Last week, the Opposition accused GAWU, and its leader, Komal Chand, of selling out.

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One thought on “No haphazard doling out of sugar lands- Harmon”

Carifta January 27, 2018 at 9:27 am

Perfect time to restart some coops in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.

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