the story behind the enmore packaging plant took a new turn, when leslie ramsammy, the agriculture minister, confirmed that the packaging plant only operates when there is excess sugar. ramsammy said that their main contractual obligations are bulk sugar and hence, the extra sugar that they have after their bulk sugar obligation is then transported for packaging. after a kaieteur news report which mentioned that the plant was sitting idle whilst the guyana sugar corporation guysuco met up its bulk sugar demands, the corporation had provided a different clarification as to why sugar was not being packaged. akbar ally and yudhisthir persaud, who are the managers, had told kaieteur news that the establishment was out of operation as the sugar being produced at enmore was fulfilling bulk export demands, similar to the explanation given by ramsammy. however, guysuco disagreed that the managers ever said that to kaieteur news this. guysuco claimed that the plant equipment underwent considerable maintenance work through the last outofcrop period, and it is regular operating practice for a sugar plant of this kind to guarantee that the initial batches of sugar be aimed at bulk bulk is intended for reprocessing after a maintenance span especially a major one. this span allows for operational &ldquofinetuning&rdquo and to ensure product regularity for direct consumption sugars needed for the packaging plant, guysuco mentioned. the corporation mentions that it is on this basis that managers suggested that the plant has been emphasizing on bulk production, but no such clarification was offered by the two managers. surendra engineering, the indian company, had paid us12.5 million to establish the plant, which was started in may 2011. at the end of august, guysuco had sought after to reject that the plant was on idle mode while the corporation attempted to meet its bulk sugar requirements. ramsammy mentioned that is actually what happens at enmore stating that at a time, only about 50 of the sugar produced at enmore is transported to the plant for packaging. ramsammy stated that, in the first stages, they take all sugar and put it into bulk sugar obligations. hence, while that bulk sugar order is being met, the factory is in idle mode, until it could get sugar for packaging. the plant was designed with the intention to produce 40,000 tons of sugar on an annual basis. however, ramsammy said that was not a sign that the plant would really produce that amount of sugar. ramsammy mentioned that so far, the plant has packaged only 10,000 tons of sugar for this year, and he could not instantly give the revenues from the sale of the packaged sugar. given that sugar produced at enmore initially goes to fulfill bulk sugar demands, the plant is not provided with sugar to fulfill the capacity it was designed to produce. ramsammy stated that the fact of the matter is this establishment is intended to produce at around 40,000 tons on a yearly basis and can be extended later to twice over that capacity. to ensure the nation that the plant is functioning, the minister visited the factory. he further said that while there were teething difficulties as is the same case with any new factory, the establishment is working up to its expectation, and he wanted to make sure the nation knows it. he mentioned that guysuco strives to accomplish its contractual obligations for bulk sugar that amounts to in excess of 200,000 tones, just because of the money factor. he further explained that with bulk sugar, payment comes in without delay, and that provides the cash flow for guysuco to carry on operations. he said, on the other hand, sometimes that payment for packaged sugar comes about four months after. source of information httpwww.kaieteurnewsonline.com20121006us125menmoreplantministerconfirmsonly…
