President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali says that hundreds of jobs will soon be created in the revived sugar industry through the establishment of a sugar refinery at Enmore, East Coast Demerara.
The Enmore estate was one of the several sugar estates that were closed down by the previous APNU+AFC government, leaving thousands of workers without a source of income, and causing a major dive in the economy during that period.
The revitalisation of the sugar industry is another commitment that the PPP/C government has been bringing to fruition through a range of measures.
These measures propelled a breakthrough recently with the reopening of the Rose Hall Sugar Estate, East Berbice Corentyne, after more than six years out of operation, employing more than 1,000 workers.
Since 2020, over 4,000 new employees have been employed in the industry.
President Ali, in his address at the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) annual corporate dinner on Monday evening at the Marriott Hotel, said that the government will continue to invest in building the sector, as it is a vital facet of Guyana’s economy.
“We are going to invest in GuySuCo because GuySuCo can be made profitable. We have an investor who is in the final stage of an investment decision soon to convert the Enmore sugar estate that is now scrapped into a sugar refiner to refine the brown sugar there,” he told the gathering of private sector representatives.
He said that the government is working on a plan through which the industry can produce 100,000 tonnes of sugar this year.
With the proposed Enmore sugar refinery expected to refine 180,000 metric tonnes of sugar annually, President Ali said that the government may be looking at importing more.
“Whatever we can supply, we’ll supply then we’ll have to fill the gap so refining will occur here,” he said.
He said that the private sector is expected to play an active role in spurring this progress, as the refinery will present additional demand for transport and logistics services to fuel its operations. [DPI]
