–use lands for aquaculture, manufacturing
JOBS could be lost as People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)/A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Leader Aubrey Norton, has said that part of his party’s plans, if elected, is to convert the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) into a house-construction company and utilise its lands for other activities.
At a time when the construction industry is beaming with opportunities for small and large contractors countrywide, Norton has said that his party would want to make GuySuCo one of the largest builders of homes and communities in Guyana.
“GuySuCo can become one of the largest builders of homes and communities in Guyana, much potential also exists where the sugarcane plant itself can be utilised to produce not only raw and processed sugar, but also ethanol, livestock feed, bagasse and the co-generation of electricity,” Norton said during a press conference, on Friday.
The party, he said, also wants to use GuySuCo’s land for new business ventures such as aquaculture, manufacturing and housing development.
In 2017, the former APNU+AFC coalition government had announced the closure of several sugar estates across the country, leaving thousands of persons without jobs or sources of income. The move saw four sugar estates being closed and over 7,000 sugar workers losing their jobs.
In addition to this move that was dubbed the largest retrenchment exercise in post-independent Guyana, there was also no pay rise between 2015 and 2020, effectively keeping workers at 2014 pay levels for five years; and arbitrary withdrawals of benefits and conditions which went against workers’ rights set out in agreements and laws.
Norton’s proposal followed a recent report in which President, Dr Irfaan Ali addressed the industry’s state of collapse his administration inherited in 2020. He described it as a “crippled sector,” stripped of assets and drained of human capital.
“We had to recreate that infrastructure, rebuild drainage and irrigation systems, clear fields that became forests… that was basically what it was and then reinvest in capital goods,” President Ali said in a recent report.
Billions of dollars have also been injected into mechanising some aspects of production and modernising facilities to boost output. As a matter of fact, two packaging plants are being established in Albion and Blairmont to improve value-added products.

This groundwork, President Ali noted, is not the end of the road; it marks the beginning of the corporation’s transformation, which will be implemented in the PPP/C’s next term in office.
“We are now looking at the entire ecosystem of GuySuCo… how it can support national development, how it can be part of our economic expansion,” he said.