Georgetown: The Wales Sugar factory will be closed at the end of the 2016 2nd crop and with effect from 2017; farmers’ canes will be milled at the Uitvlugt factory, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
During this year the routing of the farmers’ canes to Uitvlugt would be determined to ensure the least additional cost.
According to the Ministry, the parlous state of the sugar industry is common knowledge and the new Board of Directors and the Interim Management Committee, appointed in July and June respectively, were charged with, inter alia, bringing a greater level of discipline to bear on the financial operations of the business. The team confirmed the Government’s worse fears that the plight of the industry was indeed dire.
“It was felt for many years, more so, over the past ten years that the Corporation was diverting scarce resources from the estates to assist with the financing of the new Skeldon project. Additionally, the Corporation was denying the high productive estates funding as they propped up the poor performing ones. The result was a general decline in performance, production and financial, across the industry,” according to the Agri Ministry. “The practice of diverting scarce funds from the good estates to keep the poor performers in operation can no longer be tolerated as the survivability of these estates could not now be guaranteed.”
The Ministry of Agriculture acknowledges the fact that the investment required to refurbish Wales estate remains significant and the finances are simply not available. Diverting funds from the other estates to keep Wales afloat would seriously jeopardize the future of these estates. This cannot be allowed to happen.
“It is impossible to make sugar production at Wales viable. This is made worse by the gloomy outlook for sugar prices for the foreseeable future. Wales estate is projected to make a loss of G$1.6 -$1.9 Billion in 2016. This coupled with the extent of refurbishment needed render this estate prohibitively costly to maintain,” the Ministry underscored.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) will be exploring the feasibility of alternative ventures utilizing the Wales lands. The important criteria for such projects would be wealth creation and employment generation. It is hoped that the first of such projects could commence by October 1, 2016.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) said that such a course of action has nothing to do with the recommendations of the Commission Of Inquiry (COI) into the sugar industry, though the COI report does make reference to the Corporation’s plans for 2016.
These, together with other initiatives, are contained in GuySuCo Budget and 2016 Action Plan. In the ensuing weeks, other initiatives would be implemented which are aimed at reducing costs and losses, increasing efficiency and improving sugar production, revenue and cash generations so as to ensure a more effective management of the Corporation’s resources.
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