— but Professor Narine laments pace of operationalisation

By Tajeram Mohabir
THE Rice Cereal Factory on the Essequibo Coast for which $100M was allocated by the Government of Guyana is still on the cards, Director of the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST), Professor Suresh Narine, has disclosed.

But Professor Narine, an internationally acclaimed scientist in the field of biomaterials,who has oversight of the project, said he is unhappy at the pace at which the operationalization of the facility has progressed. Some of it is understandable, he said, given some of the administrative and bureaucratic delays that had occurred with the project, and the need to develop an initial stable market which can sustain the staffing of at least one shift of the facility while additional markets are developed.

The facility is built with an initial capacity to process 2,000 tonnes of rice per year, and if its target market grows, this figure could easily be expanded to 30,000 tonnes of rice annually.

Unemployment has been an issue on the Essequibo Coast, and when the factory becomes operational, it is expected to ease the region’s problem by creating some 200 jobs when operating three full shifts.

In a report headlined “An Apparent white elephant”, published in the Guyana Chronicle on Monday, several upset farmers who spoke with this publication on condition of anonymity had vented their disgust that the multi-million-dollar investment, which was designed to support value-added in the rice industry, has not been put into operation even though the building was completed about a year ago.

Since assuming office, President David Granger has been calling for greater attention to, and investment in, agro-processing.

Dr Narine, in giving a status update on the project, told the Guyana Chronicle that the IAST wholeheartedly welcomes the vision of the President.

NO FUNDING FOR OPERATIONALIZATION
The cereal factory project had received $100M of capital funding from the Government in 2015. Professor Narine explained that while this funding was sufficient for the capital works – the construction of a building; purchase of the necessary equipment; and preparation of bridges, outbuildings and fences — no funding had been allocated for the operationalization of the facility.

“In other words, no funding was available to initially pay a staff complement, purchase raw materials, and packaging for the product, or to market and promote the product. Therefore, the IAST embarked on a parallel development programme – production of the product at a pilot scale to allow branding and market development to occur whilst the capital works were being completed, supervised by the institute. The intent was to develop a demand which could materialise as a lead order for the facility, which would allow expenditure on staffing, raw materials, packaging, etcetera,” Professor Narine explained.

He noted that the product has been branded as the “Morning Glory” brand of cereal. The IAST has also developed a line of nutrition bars composed mainly of the cereal, which can also be manufactured with the equipment targeted for the commercial plant.

The institute has been promoting this product to various distributors in the Caribbean.

“In addition, the IAST solicited the assistance of His Excellency, President David Granger, and various members of Cabinet, to market the product to the national school feeding programme. As a result, both the cereal and the nutrition bar products are currently being piloted in a number of coastal schools in Buxton and Enmore. Should these trials meet with the approval of the students, the demand for this programme would easily allow the commercial plant to be operated with at least one shift of workers,” Narine, a distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Chemistry at Trent University, Canada, said.

He told the Guyana Chronicle that this would then give the facility the necessary opportunity to grow its packaged cereal and bar, and market both locally and in the Caribbean so that the plant can begin to operate two or even three shifts.

Securing this initial market is crucially important, and for this reason the IAST has produced significant volumes of the product at its licensed pilot facility located at its Turkeyen headquarters on the University of Guyana Campus, which are currently utilised in the trial.

OTHER CHALLENGES
Professor Narine explained that notwithstanding the marketing challenge, which he feels certain will be overcome, as the product is a superior one which will appeal to the students while providing a superior nutritional profile, there have also been other challenges.

“The first of these relates to the land on which the plant is built. After an initial location identified by former Regional Chairman of Region Two, Mr Parmanand Persaud, was rejected due to objections by residents in the area, the current location was identified with the assistance of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), the Deeds Registry and the Office of the President. The land was identified in the GLSC’s records as vacant and within an area zoned as an industrial estate. The records in the Deeds Registry confirmed that of the GLSC,” Professor Narine related.

The GLSC began preparations to allocate the land to the IAST, and permission was received from the Office of the President to proceed with construction; but shortly after construction began, the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) approached the IAST, the GLSC and the Deeds Registry and produced a transport document which established that GPL was the rightful owner of the land.

Professor Narine pointed out that although the GLSC and the Deeds Registry had no record of this ownership, they verified that the transport held by the GPL was valid.

And given this situation, Professor Narine said, he immediately met with then Chief Executive Officer of the utility company (CEO), Mr Bharat Dindyal, who provided a verbal no-objection for the construction of the cereal plant to proceed.

“Mr Dindyal and President Ramotar then committed to meeting to discuss the transfer of the land to the IAST, or to the Office of the President, whichever was deemed to be more appropriate, and the construction of the cereal plant proceeded. Unfortunately, the land was never transferred under the previous administration, and the matter is currently being examined by Minister Joseph Harmon, who has asked for various agencies involved to take lawful and appropriate actions so that the land can be transferred. Until the land is owned by the IAST, the facility cannot receive utilities such as power, and cannot acquire an Environmental Permit to begin production,” he said.

SQUATTER
When the plant was being built, there was an existing squatter on the premises. The squatter was still there when this publication visited the factory last week.
According to Professor Narine, then President Ramotar and then Minister of Housing, Irfaan Ali, had committed to providing a house lot to the squatter so that she could move from the location at the launching of the construction of the facility.

“Before this could happen, there was a change in Government, and the squatter and her family never received the house lot. The IAST wrote the then Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott, regarding the matter and seeking his intervention to procure a house lot for the squatter and her family. Minister Scott referred the matter to the CHPA for action,” he said.

Another issue that has affected the facility is the sourcing of the equipment, he said. The building and all civic works were completed on time and on budget, and the IAST has inspected the building and is satisfied with the quality of the construction. However, when bids were placed for the public tender of the equipment, the lowest bid was found to be at least 75 per cent higher than the cost of the equipment directly from the manufacturer.

The IAST, he said, wrote the Guyana National Procurement and Tender Administration (NPTA) Board and recommended that the tenders be nullified and the equipment be sole-sourced from the manufacturer in 2015.

Professor Narine said that, unfortunately, there was no follow-up before the elections, and significant delays occurred post national elections.
However, he noted that the matter is now occupying the attention of Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, through whom the IAST has appealed to the NPTA for permission to sole-source the equipment from its manufacturer in China.

The IAST Director explained that the transformative project, which was entirely developed in Guyana to add value to its rice commodity crop, is important not only through its immediate impact, but also through its enabling impact in changing culture and enabling entrepreneurship through the employment of appropriate sustainable technology.

“Projects of this nature which seek to be vertically integrated are challenging, as our bureaucratic and administrative structures are not ideally suited to ensuring that such projects are streamlined. However, it’s well worth the effort; and certainly, the current issues will be sorted out. This is an example of a project which can, and has, secured the support and efforts of both the two recent administrations across the political divide, simply because it makes sense for the country,” he said.

Professor Narine also committed to providing bi-monthly updates to the media, so that the people, especially those from Essequibo, can be apprised of the progress being made on the project.