PIOJ to get plan for new sugar factory soon
WESTERN BUREAU — The proposal to construct a US$100-million state-of-the-art sugar factory in Trelawny will be submitted to the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) for its approval within the next two weeks, according to corporate affairs consultant at the All Island Jamaica Cane Farmers Association, Allan Rickards.
“The minister of agriculture has endorsed the concept and has announced it in Trelawny, we have presented it to the Ministry of Finance and we are now ready to present it in its finality to the Planning Institute of Jamaica within the next two weeks,” Rickards told Rotarians at the Glistening Waters Restaurant, near Falmouth in Trelawny, on Tuesday.
According to Rickards, the factory will be the most modern in the Caribbean and is expected to produce between 60,000 and 70,000 tonnes of refined sugar per year in the initial stages. But that amount would be substantially increased as cane production increased within the parish.
The proposed factory, which is expected to be financed and operated by Arkel Sugar Inc, a sugar-consulting firm from Louisiana, and the Inter-American Transport and Equipment out of Florida, will also produce:
* dry ice;
* yeast;
* vinegar; and
* methane gas and will facilitate the co-generation of electricity for sale to the national grid.
Earlier this year, Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke met with cane farmers in Trelawny and outlined the proposal for the construction of the new factory.
At that time, Clarke said the facility was the “way forward for the sugar industry”.
“The concept is tremendous. For me it is really the way we should go in terms of the manufacturing of sugar, in terms of value added, in terms of efficiencies,” he had said.
On Tuesday, Rickards said the construction of the factory would lead to employment opportunities in the sugar industry and facilitate the reopening of the Hampden Wharf in Falmouth as a cruise shipping port.
And even though the site has not been selected for its location, Rickards said that the two-year project may begin some time in May or June of next year.
