NICIL to construct US$2million Ago Processing Centre at Wales

The National Industrial Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL) will establish a multi-million-dollar agro-processing industrial at the former Wales Estate that will provide employment for hundreds of Guyanese Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Colvin Heath-London announced Saturday.
NICIL is currently in the final stages of securing grant financing for the project to help make good the David Granger government’s promise not to abandon former sugar workers.
“My team and I are very confident that this proposed facility will provide a very strong enabling environment for farmers and processors. Therefore…companies will be able to produce products that can be taken to market,” Heath-London said.
“This will further demonstrate NICIL’s commitment to the sugar workers by providing new opportunities in a dynamic economy” the NICIL official reiterated.
Guyana is a major producer of agricultural products in the Caribbean with an annual food import bill of some US$4B and Heath-London believes local producers processed and packed products should compete for a stake of the Regional market.
“This centre will boost the operations of a number of primarily small and medium-size processors and packaging individuals as they would have an avenue to have their snacks packaged and branded and their juices processed (for the available local and overseas markets),” the NICIL top official explained.
The new facility will also create opportunities for the production of jams and jellies from leftover processed materials, Heath-London said providing and insight into what NICIL foresees as additional revenue streams and employment at Wales in Essequibo Islands/West Demerara (Region Three) industrial park.
NICIL, Heath-London disclosed, has already secured some food processing equipment and the government holding agency is anticipating benefiting from the largesse of some philanthropic institutions to secure the additional plant to help kick-start the initiative.
“It is very important that we secure this as it will certainly help with the construction of the state-of-the-art processing centre that will complement the agro-industrial park at the Wales estate. There was a lot of concerns and questions raised when the government of Guyana closed several of the sugar estates. However, since the closure, NICIL has been in talks with a number of (influential) persons…to secure grant funding to push a number of initiatives that are geared towards creating employment for a number of former workers seeking employment,” the official said.
Operations at the new processing facility will include, sorting, grading, washing, chilling, drying, packing and cool- storage of several staple crops such as eddoes, cassava, sweet potato, yams, plantain and breadfruit and a variety of local fruits.
“This will certainly help in boosting the produce of several farmers and aiding them in advancing their business,” Heath-London said.