IDB conducting study for glass manufacturing in Guyana – GMSA President

…calls on Govt to build industrial parks to support agro-processors

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is currently undertaking a feasibility study on the possibility of establishing a glass manufacturing facility in Guyana.
This was revealed by President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Ramsay Ali, at the organisation’s Mid-Year Dinner and Launch of the 60th Anniversary Activities held on Thursday evening at the Ramada Princess Hotel, Providence, East Bank Demerara.
While Guyana used to have a glass bottle factory years ago, it no longer exists. Currently, there is such a facility in Trinidad and Tobago. With the assurance of being able to produce the glass demand within the Region, that company has approached the Caribbean Community (Caricom) through the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) mechanism to impose Common External Tariff (CET) on the importation of glass from anywhere else.
According to the GMSA Head, Guyana is home to two large beverage companies – Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and Banks DIH Limited, both of whom are members of the Association. They along with other members such as mid-size manufacturers as well as a host of small agro-processors have massive glass demands.
Consequently, the GMSA approached the IDB with a plan to set up a local glass factory here – an idea which the IDB has taken interest in and agreed to fund the feasibility study for glass manufacturing in Guyana.
“I’m pleased to say that that study has started and we have a timeline for about two months before we can get the results of that study,” Ali informed the GMSA membership and other stakeholders.
The IDB has recruited British-based Ernst & Young Global Limited to conduct the study.
“Our opinion is that …given what is going to take place with energy in this country in a short while, that project will make much much more sense now than if we were to look at it 10 years ago because of the consumption of energy for such a facility,” he noted.
The GMSA President is referring to the Guyana Government’s model gas-to-energy facility, which will see natural gas being piped from offshore operations to a location at Wales, West Bank Demerara, where a 300-megawatt power plant and an integrated Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant will be constructed there.
With the gas-to-energy project, Government has touted that not only will the cost of electricity be significantly reduced but the ripple effect will also see the operational cost of businesses being slashed as well.
On this note, Ali used the opportunity at the GMSA’s mid-year event to urge members that are not on the national grid – like his company, Sterling Limited – to start readying themselves to shift over ahead of the combined cycle power plant coming on stream in 2025 so that they too can benefit from cheap electricity.

Support for agro-processors
Meanwhile, during his presentation, the GMSA President went on to outline what initiatives are being peddled by the organisation to support its membership. He pointed out that out of the 250 GMSA members, a significant number of them are agro-processors and this figure is constantly growing.
According to Ali, while the Association has invested heavily in various initiatives and programmes over the years to support agro-processors and the agro-processing industry to improve and expand, they have now engaged Government to bring further benefits to these businesses.
He noted that the GMSA recently conducted a survey with small agro-processors and one of the common things that was found is that many of these businesses started off small, mostly in homes, but have expanded and are in need of space to operate their businesses from.
Pointing to the “crazy” high cost of land in the country, Ali disclosed that the Association has approached Government to explore the establishment of what he called ‘industrial parks’ to house the operations of agro-processors.
“I’m talking about a built-out facility that can house 20 or 30 agro-processors – equipment, warehousing, finished product, energy, water [and other required] facilities, and there is cost recovery there. You think about the possibilities if we can put down some of those across the country,” he stated.

The GMSA Head noted that this industrial park will not be the same as the 12 agro-processing facilities built by Government through the Ministry of Agriculture.
He explained that unlike those Government facilities, which are a furnished shared space for agro-processors to use, the GMSA agro-processing members have their own equipment and machinery ready but just need the space.
“They need better space so that they can manage their businesses better,” he pointed out.
Further lobbying for agro-processors, the GMSA President called for support for these small businesses to travel and attend exhibitions overseas. He noted that while those events offer an opportunity for agro-processors to grow their business, it is an expensive venture.
On this note, he disclosed that the Association is in talks with Government about a special budget every year to support overseas travel for agro-processors to attend exhibitions.
He went on to talk about Government’s procurement policy. He noted that despite there being a policy to procure from local businesses, there are some people in Government who are in key positions that are not adhering to that policy. But the GMSA President is resolved in ensuring that small businesses, especially, get their share.
“Government is the biggest spender in this country and we’ve got to make sure our small businesses get their share. Every day you have a meeting with 20-30 people, you should make sure that the juices you buy for the snacks is from a local producer, it should not be an imported soft drink or imported water,” Ali stressed.
The GMSA President also used the opportunity to sound calls for a laboratory of international standards so that local food manufacturers can have their products tested right in Guyana instead of sending samples to other countries.
Moreover, Ali, who sits on the Board of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), highlighted the successful results that have been yielded from the Shade House Farming project, which has produced fresh flowers, onions, broccoli and sweet peppers.
“The project is making sense and the testing stages are over. What will happen now is that Government is going to move to commercialise these projects and there will be opportunities for people in this room who are involved in agriculture,” he noted.
Another area the GMSA Head disclosed that is being worked on is getting a seat at the Small Business Bureau (SBB). Ali argued that since their membership is a big clientele of the Bureau, they should be in room to participate in critical discussions.
So, there are a couple of things that we can to discuss with Government surrounding agro-processing and the agro-processor. We’ve heard the Small Business Bureau is being re-engineered and re-examined, and we’re asking that we should be part of that discussion.
We’ve already written the Minister on this. We have a very good relationship with that Ministry.
“The Small Business Bureau is…an extremely important Government agency as it relates to the development of small businesses in this country and I believe that if it’s tweaked a little bit or re-engineered, it can do much much more… We believe that we can add value to the Small Business Bureau… So, we’re asking for a seat at the discussion [table] so that we can point out a couple of things where we believe that the SBB [can improve],” he explained. (G8)