Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 30, 2016 News
A high- level meeting will take place tomorrow to decide the way forward as it relates to the Wales sugar estate.
This was disclosed yesterday by Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder at the Ministry’s Boardroom, Regent Street and Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jadgeo; Minister of State Joseph Harmon; Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder; Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence; Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan; and Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, as well as union representatives from the Guyana Labour Union, (GLU), Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), and the National Association of Agricultural Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) will be present at the meeting.
Meanwhile, an estimated 100 workers from the 1000-strong work force there at present including the senior staff, will be absorbed into the diversification project at the Wales estate.
This is according Finance Director of GuySuCo, Paul Bhim. It was also pointed out that several workers have opted for severance and have already been paid.
The question was asked what will happen to the other workers as of January 2017, to which Bhim replied that the factory workers will remain for another month because the factory needs a lot of cleaning.
Government had announced the closure of the century-old factory by the end of this year, saying it is no longer sustainable and would lose $2B this year.
Bhim further explained that the cane harvesters will be transferred to other estates.
He added that workers will also be offered jobs at the Wales location as part of the rice paddy project which has already begun. The Finance Director told media operatives that the rice paddy project will occupy some 220 acres of land at the Wales estate; while several other acres need to be ploughed.
Hundreds of families on the West Bank of Demerara where the estate is located have been against the closure, saying that it will drastically affect the way of life there and create unemployment.
It was highlighted that an aquaculture project is also in the making for the estate, however, this project has not yet been confirmed.
The Finance Director said that a pre-feasibility study was done and a report was given, while the official feasibility study will take place in January of 2017.
There were also questions as to whether the LBI Estate is up for sale, to which the Finance Director replied in the negative.
Minister Holder explained that the Wales factory is the oldest in the country, and it is inefficient, hence, the decision to convert it into a viable alternative. The ministry had earlier stated that the factory would require tremendous amounts of investments to rehabilitate it, investments which the government could not afford.
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