FORMER banker Aubyn Hill will head the negotiating team to evaluate tender proposals from eight companies vying to purchase government-owned sugar assets.

The other members of the committee are Ian Persaud, vice-president of the Jamaica Broilers Group; Sharon Weber, manager of the Petro Caribe Development Fund; John Vassell, attorney-at-law; and Derrick Heaven, chairman of the Sugar Industry Authority (SIA).

Making the announcement in Parliament on Tuesday, agriculture minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, said the government had left open the possibility of adding other individuals to the team, as the need arose.

Tufton also told journalists attending Tuesday’s post-cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House that the process is expected to be completed within 12 months.

The framework agreed on by the cabinet is for:

. 50-year leases of cane lands and greathouses;

. outright sale of factory plants, machinery, rolling stock and lands on which they are located;

. absorption of the cost of redundancy payments to workers by the government;

. transfer of all debts of the Sugar Company of Jamaica’s (SCJ) related companies to the Ministry of Finance;

. transfer of assets to new investors without encumbrances;

. requirement for new investors to guarantee supply of sugar to satisfy Jamaica’s contractual obligations to the European Union, at least until 2009; and

. lands for social housing to be left out of the privatisation package.

Dr Tufton said that the government would be addressing the social and economic fallout from the privatisation of the five factories/estates – Bernard Lodge, Frome, Hampden, Monymusk and St Thomas.

He said that, in this regard, discussions had already begun with the trade unions and comprehensive development programmes would be implemented in tandem with the process using funds from the EU.

He said that the estates had accumulated debts amounting to $16 billion and that, in addition, the umbrella company, the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ), required $2.7 billion to prepare for the 2007/2008 crop.

He said that privatisation of the assets would provide the financial and other sources needed to significantly improve efficiency and productivity in the sector.

The eight bidders are Angostura, Trinidad and Tobago; Coimex, Brazil; Dhamohur Sugar Mills, India; Energen Development Limited, Jamaica; J Wray and Nephew Limited, Jamaica; Flo Sun, USA; Infinity Bio-Energy, Brazil; and Stirling Partners from the Bahamas.