Sugar industry expansion project
Tenders issued to 30 pre-qualified bidders
Stabroek News
July 27, 2002
Tenders have been issued to 30 pre-qualified international bidders for the US$100 million Skeldon Expansion (sugar) Project and the bidders are expected in Guyana in August for a pre-bid meeting before they submit proposals in October.
Project Manager for the Skeldon Project, Paul Hough, told Stabroek News recently that tenders were issued in the international media on June 25 and the entire process has been subjected to international pre-qualification.
He said all of the 30 bidders were serious and had been issued with tenders for the packages in which they were best qualified. The project has been split into four packages; civil engineering and construction; extraction; boiling house and steam and power generation.
Hough indicated that once the bids were in, a detailed evaluation process would begin to select the best combination of bidders.
He said he expected the process to take about two months and before the end of the year, the project management team should have a good idea of where the contracts would be awarded.
He was not in a position to comment on financing for the project, part of which has been secured but said that as of now, there was sufficient confidence to go to the stage of tender.
The World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank have committed close to US$47 million in financing for the project. The rest of the financing has not been committed.
Actual construction of the 8,400-tonne per day factory is scheduled to start in mid 2003 and last for two years.
It is the Skeldon Expansion Project which is expected to position the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) to lower its cost of production substantially by increasing yields per acre and output to enable the corporation to survive.
The corporation has embarked on other cost cutting exercises and plans on including a refinery in the Skeldon Project, but a decision on this has not been taken as yet.
It is expected that such a decision could be taken by August to allow for the bidders to be so informed at the meeting. It would cost some US$10 million more to include a refinery in the project.
A refinery would allow Guyana to seriously tap into the market for refined sugar and to diversify its product base. (GITANJALI SINGH)