Brazil businessmen interested in local ethanol investment
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
February 11, 2007
BioCapital, Brazil's second largest producer of bio-diesel, is currently awaiting word from the Guyana government on a proposal to invest US$300 million to acquire lands and establish a distillery for the production of ethanol for local consumption and for export.
State Secretary of the State of Roraima Sergio Pillon, who was a member of the Brazilian delegation to Guyana to attend the Extraordinary Meeting of the Joint Commission on the Road Transportation Agree-ment between Guyana and Brazil held on Thursday, told Stabroek News on Friday it was now up to the government here to give the go ahead.
Pillon said that private investors were interested in a joint partnership venture with the Guyana Sugar Corporation and have had preliminary talks with Guysuco.
The investors were in Guyana in November last year when they made an aerial survey of lands for the cultivation of sugar cane in the New Amsterdam area. They have applied for some 50,000 hectares.
The production of cane and the establishment of a distillery would complement the development plans for the sugar-cane industry for ethanol production in the State of Roraima, Pillon said.
He said that Guyana had a number of advantages for the production of ethanol because of its current sugar-cane production capacity, the climatic conditions and its access to Caribbean and North American markets.
The businessmen from BioCapital are among investors being encouraged by the Brazilian government to assist Guyana in the development and diversification of the sugar and agriculture industries.
According to Brazil's ambassador to Guyana, Arthur VC Meyer, BioCapital would like to begin the project as soon as possible, the objective being to undertake the project in conjunction with a similar one which they have begun in Roraima.
Stating that he was confident that Brazilian investment in ethanol would be implemented in Guyana shortly, Meyer said that one of the aims was to export ethanol to the American market because Guyana would be in a position to benefit from some special preferential quotas for ethanol created by the US government.
"Guyana has many competitive advantages in sugar and potential in ethanol production," Arthur said, adding, "We see the prospects of a very productive partnership between our countries in this area."
Pillon also said that BioCapital was interested in producing ethanol for use by Guyana itself because the country was heavily dependent on fossil fuel, which places a heavy burden on the country's balance of payments.
He noted, however, that apart from the completion of the bridge over the Takutu River for collaborative efforts to come to fruition the road from Lethem to Georgetown would also have to be improved significantly.
Brazil has over the past three decades used bio-diesel, a mixture of fossil fuel and ethanol in its automobiles. All the fuel consumed in Brazil is mixed with 20 to 25% of ethanol.
BioCapital's executives who met with Prime Minister Sam Hinds, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad and Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn in Guyana last November, met again with Prime Minister Sam Hinds subsequently when he travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Mercosur meeting.
The Brazilian businessmen had also met with officials of the Lands and Surveys Department and Chairman of the Guyana Sugar Corporation Board of Directors, Ronald Alli. Part of Guysuco's modernisation strategy is the production of ethanol as bio-fuel to feed into the national grid.
BioCapital specialises in the production of bio-diesel using ethanol with vegetable oil or animal fat. It may be used in diesel-powered cars as a fuel or mixed with diesel in order to reduce the quantum of fossil fuel needed to drive the engine.
Guyana and Brazil have a technical co-operation agreement for the production of ethanol as well as agreements for the production of soyabeans and cashews. These were signed in September 2006 during the visit of a high-ranking delegation from the Brazilian government and the private sector.