Chand urges gov’t to reconsider Skeldon co-generation
President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) Komal Chand is urging the government to reconsider its decision to divest the Skeldon estate as he is confident that the co-generation plant at the facility is viable.
Chand’s optimism about the plant’s success was renewed after reading a report from Jamaica’s The Gleaner newspaper about a United States-based entity injecting some US$38 million to transform a sugar factory in Jamaica into a co-generation facility.
The report, reprinted in Tuesday’s edition of the Stabroek News, said: “The operators of the Hampden Estate have announced a deal with a United Statesbased entity to inject some US$38 million or J$4.9 billion to transform the Long Pond sugar factory into a co-generation facility.”
According to the estate’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Andrew Hussey, the Trelawnybased sugar producer is partnering with the USbased Arrakis Development to transform the Long Pond sugar factory. He said this will allow Hampden to continue producing sugar as well as electricity from the sugarmaking process.
Hussey said in the report that the transformation will essentially turn around the fortunes of the loss-making sugar producer, which had turned over operations to the government amid mounting losses.
Speaking to Stabroek News last week, Chand said that it is not too late for the APNU+AFC coalition government to move in the direction of co-generation because “it can augment in a big way to have revenues.”
He said co-generation is one of the proposals GAWU had made to the government to save the industry following consultations with the union and other stakeholders.
Government, he said, should take note of the transformation of the Long Pond sugar factory and “abandon their decision to sell out Skeldon factory and the land at a cheap cost.”
He reiterated his call for the government to save the sugar industry by “acquiring back the co-generation, so the [Skeldon] estate can keep operating” and that “they can [also] save Enmore and Rose Hall….”
If that happens, the unemployment rate would not be so high, he said, while claiming that “government wants to miniaturize the sugar industry and people would suffer.”
The Wales Estate was closed in December, 2016, and government has confirmed plans to close Rose Hall and Enmore Estates, and to divest the Skeldon Estate when it presented a White Paper on the future of GuySuCo in the National Assembly earlier this month.
According to Chand, the government also mentioned in the document