As Government moves to scale down sugar production at the mighty Skeldon Sugar Estate and convert the lands to shrimp and hemp production, the residents on the West Bank are worried about Wales on the West Bank of Demerara are worried about Wales Estate.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo recently while addressing residents of Line Path, Skeldon Corentyne, told the media and those gathered in the audience that Wales Estate could not be reopened because the previous government had shut down the factory and sold it as scrap.
In 2016 a Report was commissioned into the operations of GUYSUCO, it found that the Wales Estate was the most inefficient of the seven estates in operation at the time.
Additionally, the Report stated that it would require some $100 billion Guyana dollars to bring the Estate back up to its minimum standard of operations.
Prior to its closure, Wales Estate was plagued by a host of mechanical and harvesting issues. The “Parvatan Report” as it is called, pointed to thousands of man-hours being lost to problems with the grinder breaking down or out of service. Flooding of the cane fields was also a major problem facing the Wales factory. The Estate was also plagued by many safety issues.
A few years ago, a 17-year-old sugar worker was killed, and seven others injured when a lightning strike at Wales and Blairmont Estates.
The PPP through the National Investment and Commercial Investment Limited NICIL fired over 60 employees of the Estate in December of 2020. That was just four months after getting into Government on December 2020. GAWU the Union representing Sugar workers in a statement had labeled the firing “illegal.”
More, In The Ring.
