Investor building sugar refinery at Enmore estate – Ali

…hundreds to be employed

The Enmore Sugar Estate, one of several sugar estates that were closed down and abandoned by the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government, will be reconstructed into a sugar refinery within the next two years.
This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali, who disclosed that an investor will fund the project as he made remarks on Monday during the Private Sector Commission’s Annual Dinner, held at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown.
President Ali had, some time ago, disclosed that the Enmore estate would be developed into an industrial zone and a state-of-the-art machine shop and pipe yard.
However, plans have been changed following the investor indicating interest in development of the estate.
As a result, this sugar refinery has become another project under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government aimed at revitalizing the sugar industry.
With Guyana’s brown sugar production now projected to again increase to 100,000 tonnes annually from this year, the Head of State explained, the Enmore facility would be able to refine up to 180,000 metric tonnes annually.
“We are investing in the (Guyana Sugar Corporation) because it is going to be made profitable…we have an investor, who is in the final stage of the investment decision, soon to convert the Enmore Sugar Estate, that is now scrapped, into a sugar refinery to refine the brown sugar there,” the Head of State said.
Further, President Ali disclosed that the facility will provide opportunities for “hundreds of upskilled jobs” and logistics to supply the refinery.
“Hundreds of upskill jobs will be created there, more opportunities for transport and logistics again to fuel that refinery. So, all of these things that I am telling you about here is one the card to unload itself in two years’ time,” President Ali announced.
A refinery is different from a sugar mill, in that the latter crushes the cane stalks, squeezes the juice from the plant, and facilitates crystallization of the juice so it turns into raw sugar; whereas a refinery converts that raw sugar into food grade white sugar.