PRIME Minister P J Patterson is offering the sugar factories owned by the Sugar Company Jamaica (SCJ) for one dollar to any investor with a sound financial plan, which does not need government’s financial support.

“Anybody who wants to acquire an SCJ (Sugar Company of Jamaica) factory, be my guest. Put up a proposal and Cabinet will order the transfer of that factory to the investor for one dollar, providing they have a sound financial plan that does not depend on recourse to the government either in the form of capital, of loans, or of government guarantee,” Patterson said yesterday.

Patterson was giving an obvious response to the All-Island Jamaica Cane Farmers’ Association (AIJCFA), whose president, Allan Rickards, had suggested that the government turn over to them the two factories – Long Pond and Bernard Lodge – which it plans to close. The prime minister said that the government was willing to consider any serious proposal from the cane farmers to take over the factories and invest the necessary capital.

Patterson, who was speaking at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, said the two factories would not be closed within two years.

He said that he would have been happy to keep all the SCJ factories – Bernard Lodge, Duckenfield, Frome, Long Pond and Monymusk – opened, “but I would be irresponsible and I would really be committing this country to a policy that I know would be bound to fail in a very short time”.

He said that every study of the industry that has been done, involving local personnel or foreign consultants, pointed to the need for some degree of rationalisation of capacity, given the size and scope of existing plants and their levels of efficiency.

“Some have gone as far as saying we should close all SCJ plants, except Frome. And there are those who say we should close no SCJ factory at all,” said Patterson.

“The government recognises the need for significant investments in order to keep the viable factories open and operating more efficiently, but for us to put money into factories that would have to be closed in the near term would be simply wasteful and squandering taxpayers’ money.”

He said that the decision was to put whatever capital is available into those plants which have long-term viability.

He said that there was hope in terms of Bernard Lodge, which provides an opportunity to the private sector for ethanol production.

There is every likelihood that the factory could be upgraded and kept open to produce ethanol. In any event, he said, there was need for the acreage of cane on the Bernard Lodge estate to enhance the efficiency of Worthy Park and Monymusk.