By Gary EleazarThe People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) is of the view that Guyana was better off constructing the Amaila Falls Hydropower Electric Plant rather than undertaking the Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Plant (SSMP).This is according to the party’s shadow agriculture minister Anthony Vieira, who called the SSMP, “a canoe that has already gone over the falls,” pointing out that it was highly unlikely that anything could be done to salvage the situation.According to Vieira, the new Skeldon sugar factory was a cause for much concern to the party, and should be the subject of a major bipartisan national inquiry.He noted that the SSMP has not been able to produce at its rated capacity of 350 tonnes of cane per hour, and is struggling to operate continuously at the greatly reduced production rate of 140 tonnes of cane hourly.Vieira added that several mechanical defects are yet to be corrected, including diffuser operation, shredder replacement bearings, and the automation of the process.According to Vieira, it now is not possible to harvest all of Skeldon’s cane, even if the estate operates to the end of December 2008, and a significant amount of the cane would have to remain in the field to be carried over to 2009.It was also emphasised that, with the construction, there were a number of unrealistic goals,NFL Jerseys China, such as the aim to cultivate, in the course of four to five years, the equivalent acreage of cane to that that was already cultivated for the old factory.The cultivation that has already taken place is pressuring the drainage system, according to Vieira, and as a result,Cheap Jerseys China, “the quality of the Skeldon canes continues to be poor,Jerseys From China, due to inadequate drainage which has resulted because of the major expansion of new lands which have been added to the existing lands under cultivation….This has reduced the efficiency of the existing drainage system.”He noted, also, that the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is now forced to transport cane produced at Skeldon to the Albion factory, pointing out that this is an expensive operation which will cost the industry dearly.However, the shortage of trucks is currently hampering this process. It was also insinuated that monies were being diverted from other estates to seek to salvage the SSMP.According to Vieira, in the 2007 Strategic Plan for GuySuCo, it is stated clearly that the Capital Budget for 2008 should address certain problems in the various estates with a view to correcting them; and in keeping with the plan, the estates submitted their Capital Budgets for 2008, totalling G$5.6 billion, but the amount allocated was slashed to G$2.43 billion.This,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, Vieira pointed out, represents a 50 per cent reduction of the capital budgeted by the GuySuCo estates. “This drastic slashing of the Capital Budget is a clear indication that GuySuCo is in a serious economic crisis….All of the estates are in trouble, and not just the East Demerara Estates…The Government should therefore stop misleading the Guyanese people about GuySuCo’s current predicament.”The shadow agriculture minister also chastised the Board of Directors of the enitity, noting that, “The perilous financial state of the sugar industry is not the fault of the managers of the corporation; it is the fault of the Government and the members of the GuySuCo Board, who are predominantly PPP/C political appointees.“They have,Cheap Jerseys Authentic, as expected, concocted a work of fiction and deception, which they call an Inquiry Probe Report as to why GuySuCo is in the situation that it is in today….This Report has little credibility and is intended to draw attention away from the real problems GuySuCo faces in Berbice…There has been too much political interference in the running of GuySuCo,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, and we do not blame Booker-Tate for this situation.”