Rose Hall Estate already produced 130 tonnes of sugar

The Rose Hall Sugar Easter in East Canje, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has recommenced grinding after being closed in 2017, by the then coalition Government A Partnership For National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) while in Opposition had promised that should it be successful at the 2020 elections it would reopen the closed Rose Hall Sugar Estate.

As of Saturday, the estate has produced in excess of 130 tonnes of sugar. This is according to Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha.
“That is another promise that the PPP/Civic Government has fulfilled. But we are having teething problems because when the factory was closed it was not decommissioned by the previous Government, as a result, we are now seeing problems with many parts in the factory and as it comes up we are trying to rectify it,” Mustapha explained.
He noted that there are leaks in the boiler, which is causing steam to escape.
“We are continuing to fix those but I am very optimistic that in another few days from now everything will be normal and the factory will continuously grind, but as it runs this is expected, that is why we haven’t commissioned it as yet.”
Last month as the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) was preparing to reopen the estate, it had invited harvesters from both the Rose Hall and Albion Sugar Estates to harvest canes at Rose Hall when ready.
However, the workers took to the street in protest, calling for Government to pay them a severance before they harvest canes at Rose Hall.
The workers who went on strike were those who were transferred from the Rose Hall Estate when it was closed in January 2017.
When the estate was closed, there were some 2500 workers at the Rose Hall Estate, 1181 of whom were retrenched, while the remainder were transferred to Blairmont and Albion Estates.
GuySuCo subsequently issued a statement saying that the workers were no longer required to go to Rose Hall and work.
According to Mustapha, harvesters from the Albion Estate are harvesting canes for the Rose Hall Estate.
“Usually at Rose Hall, Albion and Blairmont, whenever you have excessive cane you use harvesters from other estates to harvest the cane but and they are entitled for certain payments and those payments are being made to the harvesters,” Mustapha said while noting that apart from the harvesters from Albion, harvesters who were employed by the Rose Hall Estate are also in the fields harvesting the canes. (G4)