New GuySuCo CEO takes up post tomorrow

Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Dr Harold Davis, will officially take up the post on Monday.
The Agriculture Ministry (MoA), in a statement on Saturday, said Davis is tasked with modernising the three remaining sugar estates, which are the production

centres. This process will entail transforming infrastructure, agricultural and other practices, and retooling the factories at Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt. The MoA noted that one of the key focus areas for the new CEO will be to increase the competitiveness of GuySuCo with the production of high value sugars.
A precursor to this will be increasing sugarcane yields to beyond 70 tonnes cane per hectare. A land development programme has already re-commenced under Dr Davis’s watch as Agriculture Director, and this is being conducted in a very technically sound manner. In addition to attracting high quality skills to support the modernisation of GuySuCo, improving the capacity of the workforce through training and development is a high priority item on Davis’s agenda.
“In terms of the process for achieving his goals and objectives, focus will be on the establishment of a sound, highly skilled management team with a range of relevant expertise. The production centres – estates — are the core of the business, and strong teams will be built around providing the requisite support to achieve and surpass the 147,000 tonnes production target by 2021,” the statement related.
The MoA has said that in an effort to create and deliver more value, co-generation facilities will be constructed and the factory at Albion Estate will be upgraded to produce plantation white sugar. Additionally, consideration will be given to the expansion of production at Blairmont Estate to accommodate increased production of direct consumption sugars, among other things.
Feasibility studies on co-generation have been completed for two factories, and a further study will be conducted on the third estate. The first co-generation project would commence on Albion Estate within the planned period, the statement indicated. This approach is guided by GuySuCo’s new ‘Sustainable Business Model’, which focuses on achieving a triple bottom line (TBL) – economic/financial, environmental and social — and ensures more accountability in all three areas, while adding more structure around becoming a more environmentally sensitive business as well as cost reduction.
Davis takes over the reins from Bhim, who was one of the members of the Interim Management Committee (IMC), established in 2015.
Meanwhile, a new GuySuCo board is yet to be named. The life of the previous board expired since February of this year, and a new board with Special Purpose Unit (SPU) Head Colvin-Heath London was gazetted. It however subsequently emerged that the old board was still in effect amid reports of a split at Cabinet over the new board’s composition. There has since been much confusion over the matter.
Over 5000 sugar workers from Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon were dismissed from their jobs following the downsizing of the sugar industry.