An a bid to raise much-needed funds, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is preparing to submit to the Government a proposal aimed at obtaining its no-objection to sell off some of its land to private bidders.
This is according to GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer, Errol Hanoman, in an
GuySuCo CEO Errol Hanoman
interview with Guyana Times on Friday. Hanoman confirmed that the sugar company’s land sub-committee had reviewed the applications which individuals had sent in after it first tendered for expressions of interest.
Hanoman disclosed that quite a few persons had responded to the tenders, though he did not state the exact number of applicants who had vied for the chance to buy the tracts of land. He was hopeful the situation would quickly be resolved, considering that the corporation is in a cash-strapped state.
“The applications have been considered by the lands committee of the board,” he said, “and we are now about to send the board’s position to Government for its approval. There were quite a few applicants. Obviously, the bids were evaluated and recommendations made to the lands committee of the board, who considered the recommendations. So the board having now approved the recommendations, it is now going to go to Government for Government’s approval before we actually proceed with the transaction,” he told his publication.
“We’re hoping that it would be done as soon as possible, because, as you know, we are strapped for cash; we are desperately short of cash. So as soon as we can
GuySuCo is noted for its large land holdings
get the sales concluded the better it will be.”
GuySuCo had, in 2016, advertised for sale several acres of land, inclusive of vacant properties at Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD) where its headquarters are situated.
In its tender, GuySuCo said it was looking to sell portions of its transported freehold lands situated at Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, Liliendaal and Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors, Professor Clive Thomas, had revealed prior to the tender that a review was ongoing to see how best the company could utilise its considerable land holdings, a significant portion of which is unused. To give an idea of GuySuCo’s cash shortfall, Thomas had earlier alluded to the fact that the entity had asked for a sum of $12 billion for 2016 and had received $9 billion.
He was quoted in sections of the media as saying, “What we are trying to do is to use land sales as an important means of financing over the next four to five years… We are looking at our land holdings to see what is possible, then we will decide on how to structure the sales.”
Back in 2015, the sugar company had sold to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) some 3000 acres of cane field between Sophia and Ogle.
A number of decisions, such as the decision to close Wales estate on the West Bank of Demerara and to merge La Bonne Intention (LBI) operations with Enmore, have not gone down well with the employees of the company. There have been a number of protests against the decisions.
