…to sell Enmore
The PNC must be rolling in mirth now that Enmore Estate hasn’t only been shut down and allowed to turn to bush, but it’s now been officially put on the block to be hocked — lock, stock and barrel!! Some folks are asking if that sequence “made sense”: run the estate down into “bush” and then put it up for sale. Of course it makes sense…if you’re the PNC! What this means is that some company favoured by them will be able to argue with a straight face they got Enmore at a ridiculous bargain basement price because it was “so run down”!!
As Raphael Trotman once described such favoured companies…at one time or other, they make “political investments” for the party of their choice. And they hit the jackpot when that party gets into Government! But back to Enmore and the PNC. Because of its history, Enmore – like Leonora on the WCD – was always seen as a redoubt of the PPP. There was Kausilla the Martyr of Leonora in 1964, of course, to remind the PPP faithful of the perfidy of the PNC. And it didn’t surprise anyone when the latter shut down that estate in its first round of downsizing sugar back in 1976.
We all know about Enmore because of Dr Jagan’s oath at the graveside of the 5 protesting sugar workers killed in 1948. And Enmore has stood with the PPP ever since. Now when it’s resold…expect that link to be deliberately severed at the neck. And we know this can happen in any number of ways – the first one being beggars can’t be “choosers”! And right now, with 5700 of them fired in one fell swoop, with no jobs in sight, ex-sugar workers are certainly beggars!
One thing we can predict for sure is GAWU ain’t coming back with those folks who’ll be rehired at Enmore! Apart from the PNC’s and the buyer’s druthers, the workers themselves at that location were turned off by the lack of aggressiveness from the union. But your Eyewitness was rather taken aback by some of the claims the SPU is making on the estate.
85 percent mechanisation? Say what??!! Is this a sop to the buyer that they won’t need too many workers? With the rainy seasons now extending year round…they’ll be lucky to have 30 per cent mechanisation!! And zero for harvesting!!
Another claim was Enmore has a 60,000 tonne sugar producing factory!! Are we living in an alternate universe? Firstly, how will they get 60,000 tonnes of sugar from 6,900 hectares of land? Has Enmore EVER produced even HALF of that total??
Looks like someone’s been having a gas, smoking weed even before it’s been legalised!!
…with injecting gas!!
Your Eyewitness has kvetched before, on the proclivity of the Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, to mouth off on matters of which it is obvious he doesn’t have the foggiest notion! Take his continued insistence of talking about landing gas from Exxon’s Stabroek field to fuel a mega-power generation plant – even though the oil giant insists it makes better economic sense to pump back the gas into the field to bring up more oil.
Now this technique isn’t exactly cutting edge; in fact, Norway has used it successfully for over three decades to deliver an additional 4billion equivalent of oil from the North Sea!! Has Patterson even asked Exxon what’s the cost/benefit ratio of using that option?? And that maybe he can build a new power plant with the extra money??
Does Patterson even know that the gas pumped back won’t be going anywhere – and will be recycled until the oilfield is depleted?
In the end, he’ll have a gas field is he still wants some gas!!
…with oil reserves up
Well, it’s official…we now have OVER 4 billion barrels of oil reserves. So can we start celebrating? That uppity NYT reporter – with over 30 years of oil experience — says there’s a lot to be done before that.
But what does he know??
