Indian company to set up US$35M facility
– to process coconut shells into carbon

MINISTER within the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Alli Baksh, has indicated that an Indian company will soon set up a US$35M facility at Akawini, Lower Pomeroon River, to process coconut shells into carbon.

Addressing farmers at several public meetings on the Essequibo Coast and in the Pomeroon area last week, Minister Baksh said the project will take about two years to come on stream.
He said coconut shells are in abundance in the Pomeroon area, and they would be processed into carbon and used in the country’s mining industry, especially in the interior.

Minister Baksh also announced that, very shortly, the Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, will set up a facility at Anna Regina to process rice crisps. He said the $75M project will add value to rice and will create jobs for some 75 persons.

Farmers have expressed immense pleasure and happiness that the Government is pushing to set up more facilities to process the abundance of raw materials in the country, and add value to products, especially rice, although the parliamentary political parties in opposition are bent on stopping development.

(Rajendra Prabhulall in Essequibo)