The Rose Hall estate, which was shut down by the David Granger government in 2017, goes back into operation next month and a grand re-opening is set, tentatively, for September 23.
This was announced on Wednesday by the Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Sasenarine Singh who delivered remarks at the opening of the 22nd Delegates Congress of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).
Singh expressed gratitude to the government for the technical and financial support that brought GuySuCo to the point of re-opening the estate.
This deliverable was promised by the governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) in the run-up to the March 2020 general elections. Two other estates closed by the former government, Wales and Skeldon, are also set for re-opening in the future.
Two weeks ago, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha told the National Assembly that to support sugar production at Rose Hall Estate, about 1,100 workers were rehired.
Mustapha was defending a request for additional funding – some $1.5 billion – for the provision of additional resources to facilitate the rehabilitation of 1,572 hectares of temporarily abandoned lands at Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall, and Uitvlugt estates.
He also noted that more than 4,000 hectares of cane have been replanted at this estate and the government expects that 56,000 tonnes of sugar would be produced next year.
Earlier this year, when the National Assembly was considering the 2023 National Budget, Mustapha said $1.195 billion will be used to support the re-opening of this estate. Spending will cater for the purchase of new equipment and rehabilitating older equipment.
In December 2022, the Parliamentary Committee of Supply approved $1 billion in supplementary funding for GuySuCo to help with the retooling of sugar estates.
A sum of $363 million is for the Albion estate, $76 million for the Blairmont estate and $561 million for the Rose Hall estate.
