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$30B syndicated bond secured for GuySuCo …as Parliamentary Committee set to review sugar sector
The Special Purpose Unit (SPU) has secured a $30B syndicate bond through several local and regional banks to help with the revitalization plans for the three sugar estates that were kept open under the ‘right-sized’ Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
Chairman of GuySuCo, Colvin Heath-London
Recently-appointed Chairman of GuySuCo, Colvin Heath-London told Kaieteur News that the SPU and GuySuCo’s management team will decide how to capitalize on bonds with detailed plans to be revealed in the coming weeks for Uitvlugt, Albion and Blairmont Estates.
Further, Heath-London pointed out that the SPU should have access to the bond in about two weeks.
The SPU, which is also headed by Heath-London, is an arm of the state-controlled National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), which is tasked by Government to execute privatization plans for the Skeldon, Rose Hall, Enmore and Wales Estates that were closed by the end of last year.
Government has expressed dissatisfaction with the old board – headed by Professor Clive Thomas – which oversaw the closure of the four estates.
The SPU has hired international consultants, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to value the four closed estates in anticipation for privatisation and divestment. GuySuCo has been racking years of losses with worker turnout about 60 percent. In addition, consecutive Governments have doled out billions of dollars annually to bailout GuySuCo.
Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma
In the coming weeks, the bi-partisan Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Economic Services will begin to review the sugar sector. Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, chairs the committee. He stated that the Heath-London’s appearance at the committee is part of a wider probe into three critical sectors of sugar, mining and rice.
“We have written to NICIL and GuySuCo requesting information about the sugar industry. We want to know their plans and concerns. When we get that information, we will begin to craft questions for the major stakeholders. We expect to meet with senior management as well as other persons who have an interest in the sugar sector. We will do the same for mining and rice,” Sharma stated.
The Parliamentary committee includes Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, who once held responsibility for GuySuCo before Cabinet approved the appointment of a new board last month, shifting control of the entity to the SPU.
Other members of Government on the committee include Carl Greenidge, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Simona Broomes, Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, and Jennifer Wade.
Opposition members on the committee include Juan Edghill, Collin Croal and Komal Chand, who also is the President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), which represents the majority of sugar workers.
“We are progressing with our work by looking at the sectors that are relevant. They have issues, but we depend on them. We want to look at the issues the stakeholders have and to see how we can make them better,” Sharma stated.
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