In this January 24, 2005, Gleaner file photo, burnt cane is being hoisted into a waiting truck in Mayesmoore, Westmoreland, prior to being taken to the Frome Sugar Factory. Frome is one of five factories up for divestment. - File

The Government has set June 2008 as the deadline for completing the privatisation of its sugar assets, held by the Sugar Company of Jamaica.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the House of Representatives yesterday that Cabinet will make a decision on the divestment before March 31, 2008, in order to effect the appropriate sale and lease agreements and transfer of assets three months later.

In answer to questions posed by Roger Clarke, former Agriculture Minister, Golding told the House that there would have to be a proper valuation of the six sugar factories and more than 30,000 hectares of land before the divestment could take place.

The job to value the assets will be done by Delano Reid and Associates Limited, under a $24 million contract that was endorsed in August by the National Contracts Commission.

The debt-ridden Sugar Company of Jamaica had accumulated losses of $15.8 billion as at May 27.

Golding said that figure is estimated to rise to $18 billion by the time the divestment is completed.

Eight companies have been prequalified to bid for the sugar assets - Jamaica's Wray & Nephew and Energen, Trinidad's Angostura, Stirling Partners of the Bahamas, Brazil's Infinity Bio Energy and Coimex, India's Dhamphur, and Flo Sun of the United States.

The international interest has been nudged by Jamaica's move into ethanol.

Wray & Nephew, whose holdings include Appleton Sugar Estate, is making its second bid for state-owned sugar, having failed a decade ago to effect a turnaround of sugar factories it acquired as part of a consortium that included Cliff Cameron's Manufacturers Investment Limited and Booker Tate Limited, a United Kingdom company. Each company took a 17 per cent stake, and Government retained 49 per cent.

According to Golding, the options being considered by the Government include outright sale and 50-year leases. It appears similar to the plan that was under discussion during the last administration, with Clarke indicating earlier this year that the options under consideration were sale of the factories and equipment, and lease of the 18,600 hectares of cane lands.

The sugar divestment team continues to be led by Aubyn Hill, a former president of the National Investment Bank of Jamaica turned consultant.

The assets to be divested include five factories: the Monymusk in Clarendon, Bernard Lodge in St. Catherine, Frome Estate - in Westmoreland - the island's largest estate Long Pond in Trelawny, and Duckensfield in St. Thomas.

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