NFP: Worrying signs
Prof Biman claims teething issues continue at mill despite $9.3m fix
THE National Federation Party says the fact that the Rarawai sugar mill crushed just over 3000 tonnes of cane in six days instead of its daily milling capacity of 5000 tonnes was a sign that something was seriously wrong.
In a statement issued this week, party leader Professor Biman Prasad said the issue had to be highlighted because “teething issues” were continuing more than nine days after the mill began crushing after a $9.3 million boiler refurbishment.
“The capacity of the mill is to crush around 5000 tonnes of cane in a 24-hour period, but we believe it crushed about 3000 tonnes in the six days until last Sunday morning,” he said.
“Therefore, what was FSC CEO bragging about the efficient operation of the mill this season and the $9.3 million upgrade when he launched the start of crush on Tuesday, July 9?
“We also ask the FSC to reveal the truth on whether it defied the advice of the Rarawai mill management who had clearly stated that the mill wasn’t ready to start.”
Prof Biman claimed the FSC’s decision to begin crushing when the mill was “not ready” had caused “severe losses” to canegrowers who had hired canecutters and were “forced to incur additional expenditure” in contingency to provide for the canecutters when the mill stopped crushing a few hours after the launch.
He claimed farmers were not compensated when issues at Rarawai forced farmers to deliver cane to Lautoka.
“While cane laden on lorries were taken to Lautoka and dumped before the cane started to dry, growers carting cane through the rail network — especially in Tavua — have suffered further losses because of lengthy delays in hauling the laden rail carts to the mill.”
He claimed this was because cane loaded on rail carts started to dry up after two days and the FSC would not take responsibility for compensating affected growers.
“We also ask why didn’t FSC carry out trials before start of crush as has been done before. FSC used to harvest and crush cane from its own estates for the pre-season trials before informing the Sugar Industry Tribunal about the state of preparedness of its mills.”
In response, the FSC said Rarawai — into its second week of crushing — has crushed about 15,000 tonnes of cane so far.
“Mill start-up teething issues are not a new occurrence, nor is any mill immune to these sorts of things, because starting up mill equipment which has been dormant for six months does require a period of adjustment,” FSC said in a statement issued yesterday.
“Furthermore to add perspective to Rarawai’s case, the mill is Fiji’s oldest mill and the last major refurbishment to the mill was carried out over 10 years ago.
“Compounded by the fact that the mill’s close proximity to the Ba river, has meant that the mill has seen its fair share of successive flooding brought on by cyclones, impacting on the life of plant and equipment.
“Considering the above factors and the age and condition of the mill’s equipment, much of the mill’s start-up issues in the first week of operations, were due to the synchronising of new and old equipment and getting the equipment to harmonise. We are now seeing improvements in this synchronisation as the mill settles.”