-reaffirms Government’s commitment to overcome challenges
FOLLOWING-up on President Bharrat Jagdeo’s recent flaying of the lack of progress at the new Skeldon factory, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud and PPP Member of Parliament and Director on the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Board Mr. Donald Ramotar ‘dropped in’ unannounced for a brief tour of the facility and to get a realistic, firsthand assessment of the ‘inner workings’ of the facility and what is happening there ‘on the ground’. Minister Persaud, while alluding to the fact that the Administration stands firm on its commitment to ensure that the sugar industry remains viable as it is seen as the ‘backbone’ of Guyana’s economy, said that he, along with Mr. Ramotar, decided to pay the Skeldon Sugar Factory ‘a surprise visit’. He explained that the reason behind the surprise visit was mainly because of the suspicion that various aspects of the factory’s operations are camouflaged during an announced visit.

So, with a team of media personnel, Minister Persaud and Mr. Ramotar flew in by plane for the brief tour, which included tasting of the high-quality finished product.

“We wanted to make a very ‘on the spot, impromptu visit’ to get a feel of the factory and compare the reports that we have received from management as to what is taking place at the factory,” the Minister said.

The factory has been experiencing challenges in terms of technical capabilities and setbacks by management.  However, steps are already in place to address these issues. The factory, as well as the cogeneration section, is now under the supervision of experts from India, who are working closely with the relevant technical personnel from Guyana in an effort to enhance the local skills and realise the full capacity of the facility.

Referring to a recent statement by President  Jagdeo expressing his disappointment with the factory’s performance, the Minister said “the President is absolutely correct in terms of articulating our government’s concern about the need for the factory to operate at high efficiency.”
“We need to ensure that the plans and the capacity of the factory is fully realised. I must say that we have had some disappointments in terms of the technical capability. We also had some disappointments in terms of the management at the factory and efforts are being made to correct those,” the Agriculture Minister told reporters.

He said that already, skills from overseas are being marshalled and the factory itself has been placed under the supervision of an Indian expert, including the boilers and the co-generation facility.

The Minister also spoke of the need for “developing the skills level” and is hoping that experts from overseas will support the transfer of knowledge to the local personnel.

He said there is still much more work to be done and the President’s concern are in order and he has made it clear to the Board and to the management that all steps must be taken to ensure that the factory perform to the desired levels.

“And, already, we are seeing some progress in this regard,” the Agriculture Minister said. He said that notwithstanding the setback that emerged at the start of the second crop where a boiler was damaged, a team from China is working to get back the boiler into operation. He said, too, that work is being done to fix some of the problems which, according to him, are normal with a project of this magnitude.
But Minister Persaud said there is a need for greater management and greater focus on agriculture efficiency and on having the right set of technical expertise and this is something that will have to be continuously addressed.
The Agriculture Minister said that,  for this year, the factory will be grinding more than 220,000 tonnes of cane but that there is still much more work to be done in relation to the factory meeting its full capacity. The Minister said the Board and management are being pressed upon to ensure that the factory is fully operational.

CO-GENERATION
“On the co-generation side, I must say, the news is much brighter,” Persaud told reporters. He said the factory has been able to export 10 megawatts to the national grid when the requirement is eight. Noting that the co-generation plant is supplying power all the way to the Mahaica bridge, Minister Persaud said it is a very critical component in assisting GPL.
He said once the factory is in operation, it will be generating power from bagasse and some of this will be exported to the national grid.

Speaking on production targets, the Minister said the goal of the Government is to have maximum production. The Minister noted that while the target of 280,000 tonnes which was set is “a bit challenging and we recognise that, we still hope that the industry achieves above the 264,000 tonnes and look towards getting as close as possible to the original target for 2010 – 280,000 tonnes.”

He said when the target was set, it was recognised that it would have been a challenge to achieve. Deputy CEO of GuySuCo, Rajaindra Singh said the industry at the moment can produce in excess of 264,000 tonnes, provided that good weather prevails until the end of the year. He called this target the “bare minimum and achievable.”

Explaining the value of good weather to the process, Singh said once the weather is bad, it restricts bell loading, a key component to the continuous grinding of the factory.

CONFIDENT OF HITTING TARGET
Ramotar said the canes are there and it is now just a matter of the weather holding up. “We are pretty confident that we can hit the target,” he said. He said the company would depend a lot on the bell loaders when there is a low turnout of labour to the fields.
Singh said that in terms of agriculture, the company is achieving way above what had been forecast “and if we can get the weather for December the workers are prepared to go the extra mile.”
Asked about the company’s finances, Singh said that because of the timing of the crop and loading of export cargo, the money came in late and the company ended up in a cash-strapped situation.
He, however, said that once the boats keep going and production goes all the way into December, then the company will be in a better place, financially.
Ramotar added that the problems that GuySuCo is facing are temporary ones. “It is a difficult period for GuySuCo. The cash flow is tight but with everybody working in the same direction we will get over these problems,” Ramotar declared.
At a recent forum, President Jagdeo said that unless the Skeldon factory was operating the way that it was designed to, the sugar industry is dead. The President promised to intervene.