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An inexcusable lack of professionalism
AS the President and major shareholder of Agri-Solutions Technologies Inc
(AST), I am writing with significant and grave concern regarding a number of
erroneous and malicious comments uttered in the media on the state of our
operations at the Wauna Oil Palm Estate in Region 1.
It is our intent to seek legal redress from the person(s) who have been
responsible for originating these damaging statements, but in the meantime
would like to inform the public of the fallacy of the media reports.
We would also like to register our consternation that reports in the media
regarding our operations are being made without the necessary steps being
taken to contact AST or its representatives. This is an inexcusable lack of
professionalism.
Statements apparently made by an opposition Member of Parliament on
television regarding our operations have since been also reported on the
radio. In addition, there have been many incorrect allegations reported in
the Guyanese media that:
** AST has significantly reduced the number of employees previously employed
by NEOCOL (the Government Entity which operated the estate before AST
acquired it) despite previous assurances to the workers.
** AST have been experiencing problems with their operations, and have been
unable to supply enough bio-diesel to the regional administration, resulting
in prolonged periods of blackouts being experienced in the Mabaruma
sub-region.
** AST, despite promises to the contrary, have not put any funding into the
estate, and have not commenced with the planned expansion of the acreage of
oil palm under cultivation.
** As the major investor involved, Mr. Dwarka Persaud is dissatisfied with
the investment and is seeking to return the estate to the Government of
Guyana.
We categorically refute all of these malicious allegations, and are taking
this opportunity to discuss and clarify the truth of our activities at the
Wauna Oil Palm Estate.
We became involved with this project when the estate was at an all-time low.
NEOCOL consistently operated at a loss for many years and up to the point
where AST acquired the estate.
In 2006, NEOCOL's sole purchaser of crude palm oil produced on the estate
refused to purchase any more. The estate faced immediate closure and
retrenchment of the some 66 permanent employees.
At the same time, the IAST, under the stewardship of Professor Suresh
Narine, had developed a local pilot plant to produce bio-diesel from a
variety of feedstock, among them crude palm oil.
Dr Narine approached and convinced us to invest in the development of a
bio-diesel Plant to convert the crude palm oil produced on the estate to
bio-diesel, so as to avoid the closure of the estate and the retrenchment of
the workers.
Over the last twenty years after leaving Guyana, we have had success in the
Plastics Reprocessing industry in Canada and the United States. However,
once we saw what Dr Narine was doing, we became (and continue to be) very
interested in the project because of its social impact in the region and its
potential to significantly benefit Guyana's energy sector, employment, and
development.
IAST was then contracted to build a commercial bio-diesel plant at the Wauna
Oil Palm Estate, and this plant was completed and commissioned in 2007.
IAST was also contracted to train the employees of AST in bio-diesel
production and quality control. Subsequently, the privatization unit of the
Government of Guyana, NICIL, negotiated a lease agreement and a Purchase and
Sale agreement of all movable assets to AST to take over the palm oil
production side of the business as well. In July, 2007, AST acquired the
entire estate.
Since July, 2007, AST has reclaimed the entire cultivated estate, as during
the NEOCOL operation, only a fraction of the cultivated estate was
harvested. This involved the hiring of a number of seasonal, part time
workers (23 individuals in total) to clear the growth that had taken over
the estate.
These workers were never hired as permanent staff, and indeed, during the
years that the estate had been operated by NEOCOL, workers who were employed
to clear undesired growth were always hired on an as-needed basis.
AST currently has some 76 permanent staff, approximately 10 more permanent
staff than was employed by NEOCOL. Furthermore, AST now provides daily lunch
to all of its workers on the estate, whether they are permanent or
temporary, as long as they show up for work. It is just one of the many
social impact programs we have planned for the project.
Now that we have cleared the existing cultivated acreage and can begin to
harvest a greater area of palms, we are also moving forward with a new
cash-crop cultivation project.
This will result in even more of the temporary pool of workers being hired
permanently. Furthermore, having restored the cultivated portions of the
estate to a useful and productive state, we are now embarking on a
significant increase of cultivated acreage, having secured a source of
competitive palm seedlings from Costa Rica.
Indeed, we have partnered with our seed supplier so that we can not only
supply ourselves with seedlings, but others in Guyana who are also
interested in palm oil cultivation. Our business plan, submitted to the
Government of Guyana as part of the privatization of Wauna, included a
schedule of investment activities, and we are well on target with those
activities.
We have increased our bio-diesel plant capacity significantly, this
expansion having been only recently completed. Furthermore, we have begun to
improve the physical plant on the estate - buildings have been renovated and
painted, the palm oil factory is going through significant overhaul, and we
have acquired more machinery to groom and maintain the estate.
In addition, soil and foliage on the estate have been evaluated by experts
both in Florida, USA and Ontario, Canada and we have incurred significant
expense to bring experts from Costa Rica to Wauna to assess the best
approach to the increase of our cultivated acreage.
We have ourselves visited plantations in Central America, again to assess
the best possible ways of approaching increased cultivation.
We have seen a reduction in palm oil production over the past five months,
despite harvesting a larger cultivated area of the estate. This is due to a
seasonal lean period.
However, we have not reduced the amount of bio-diesel supplied to the
region. Instead, at a significantly increased cost to ourselves, whenever we
have faced shortages of palm oil, we have resorted to the utilization of
petroleum diesel on the estate, so that we can supply the region with all of
the bio-diesel required for their needs.
We are committed to the partnership with the region, and despite the
difficulty in logistics, production, and distribution in a region as remote
as Wauna, we have been able to meet our commitments to the region.
We would like to point out that the operations with which we are engaged are
pioneering- we have, with the IAST's help, established the first and only
commercial bio-diesel operation in Guyana.
We have done so in a remote part of the country, and have had to train staff
members who were unskilled in this type of operation, all within a very
short timeframe.
In this type of endeavour, it is unavoidable that we will have challenges,
and that from time to time, we will encounter unplanned interruptions to our
activities. However, given the sterling performance of our workers and the
giant strides made, it is surprising and very sad to witness untruths being
propagated, apparently for narrow political gains.
We wish to let all of the political representatives in the Region know - we
are committed to this project, we intend for it to be a success, and we see
the most important resource in this endeavour as being the people of the
region.
We are prepared to sit down with members of the media and all concerned
stakeholders to work out collaborative approaches to real problems that may
arise in the future.
That said, we wish to inform all concerned parties that AST reserves the
right to a zero-tolerance approach to the propagation of malicious untruths,
lies and slander.
As for the reports that we are desirous of abandoning the project, let me
state emphatically: nothing is further from the truth. We are as committed
to this project now as we were at the beginning, and I am eagerly looking
forward to the expansion plans ahead.
Guyana is sometimes a difficult place to conduct business - particularly
when one is based thousands of miles away, as we are. I cannot say that we
have not faced significant challenges with bureaucracy, logistics, and
access to skilled labour. However, in Mr. Zahir Bacchus we have found a
capable and efficient General Manager, and we have been nothing but
delighted with the support we have received from the workers on the estate.
We urge the media and ill-advised Member(s) of Parliament to visit the
estate and interact with our workers. You will see firsthand the
improvements that have been made, and hear firsthand from our workers on how
they are treated, and how appreciated they feel in being a part of the
future of this estate. We will extend all hospitalities to those who wish to
take up this offer.
A small example may help -- the IAST was contracted by AST to operate the
bio-diesel plant they built for us, until our workers were trained.
IAST had to send in trained chemists from Georgetown on a rotating basis.
Now, our bio-diesel is produced by technicians who grew up in the Wauna
area. The young men who now produce bio-diesel under the supervision of Mr.
Bacchus (who is a trained Chemist) have been doing an absolutely wonderful
job. It is a small example of the plans we have for empowering the local
population at all levels of the operation.
We are doing our best, and our intentions have remained noble, and we
believe our performance has been exemplary since acquiring the estate. We
believe what we are engaged in is a project which can have a lasting
Guyanese national impact.
We therefore solicit the help of all elected public officials in the region
in addressing collaboratively any issues that we may encounter in the
future.
Politicians have a mandated role to play in the development of the economic
and social well-being of their constituents. We respect this role and
political process, and you will find that we will listen to your concerns.
However, we will also not tolerate miss-information, slander, and
politicization of our activities. It is an obtuse strategy to openly lie
about a situation which can be easily verified.
It appears there is deeper mischief afoot to thwart our activities, by
damaging our reputation maliciously. We wish to inform such detractors and
mudslingers that their untruths do not serve the employees of AST, the
residents of Wauna or even the progress of Guyana.
Dwarka Persaud
President/CEO
Agri-Solutions Technologies Inc.
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