It’s the PPP\C that destroyed sugar and rice and Guyana

Abel is not only a FOOL, a DUMB ASS and brainless but also a JACKASS!!!!!

They build a crippled factory and destroyed an efficient and functioning one ( Albion factory 11 tons of cane to produce  one ton of sugar, the new one uses 19 tons of cane)  We are some 53 billion to 96 billion dollars in debt in this industry. Screaming nonsense will not change that.

Interested in what you see as possible solutions to the problems of the sugar industry and the rice industry.

Zed take a look at the attachment.

Fisrt solution is to stop blaming APNU/AFC for PPP mistakes.  The AFC was extremely loud in their opposition to trhe Skeldon Factory.  THAT is Guysuco's biggest problem.

Burnham's legacy to the Guyanese people - Death of the Railway System.

Granger's legacy to the Guyanese People - Death of the Rice and Sugar industries.

NOw dat is legacy to talk about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birth and Death of Guyana's Railway System.

The bill proposing the construction of the railway was passed in July 1846.^[1] The railway was designed, surveyed and built by the British-American architect and artist Frederick Catherwood. All the railway stations, bridges, stores and other facilities were constructed by John Bradshaw Sharples.^[3] Financing for the Railway was provided by the Demerera Sugar Company who wished to transport their product to the dock of Georgetown. Construction was in sections with the first, from Georgetown to Plaisance, opening on 3 November 1848. The opening day's festivities featured the death of one of the railway's directors by being run over by the locomotive.

An extension to Belfield was completed in 1854, to Mahaica in 1864 and finally to Rosignol during 1897-1900.

In 1953 the public lines in the colony carried thousands of passengers and 92,769 tonnes of freight. A bold plan to extend the railway south to Brazil was never proceeded with.

The public railway system was dismantled in stages in the early 1970s by then President Forbes Burnham.

The Lamaha Street terminus of the Demerara-Berbice Railway was converted into a bus terminal subsequent to the closing of the railway.

For what it is worth, the only railway left in the English speaking Caribbean is in St Kitts, and that is used only as a tourist attraction.  Trinidad and Jamaica also shut down their railway systems.

Guyana does not need a railway system right now as the volume is not there. I am sure that's what the Forbes govt would have observed. The same problem with Berbice bridge today. All these require massive yearly subsidies to keep them going. What the country needs is an inter connected system of coastal sea transport for moving goods cheaper. Stop inventing a straw man foh beat up pan. Jeeze...

This joke is worse than your rice flour joke.  Much worse.

That 19th C railway would have had to have been massively revamped.  The question would have been whether it made sense, or whether building a proper highway network was more appropriate. 

The only use I can see would have been for Guysuco to assume ownership for their own purposes, and charging others who wanted to use the freight space.    If Trinidad, and Jamaica, with their much larger populations, didnt see that re investing in that system made sense, one can wonder if it would have for Guyana.

Thanks for the info that you sent. It was very informative and needs more detailed study on my part. Some observations: I do not think that this level of details is not collected or available. We need to collect that level of data here. There is a tendancy in Guyana to stay from data driven decision making. it was evident that a lot of thought was applied to increasing yield, managing pests. Lots of fertilizers and pesticides being used. The operation was treated as a profit making enterprise. Additionally, the size of farms is very different. Most of the rice farms here are not huge so the efficiencies that would result from economies of scale are not realized here. Rents of rice land here might be higher. I know someonevwhomrests out his rice field for six bags of paddy per acre. In Guyana, there is a political imperative. I am surprised ar the possible support programs.

thanks. Appreciate it!

You are welcome,i think some one should choose an area

and create some data on the cost of production and

figure how to cut cost,a point to note profit margin is

not very high in the U.S.

The next time I speak to people connected to the rice industry, I will try to convince them to help develop such figures for various scenarios in Guyana.

I can give you the obvious solutions. First Plant only what you can sell locally and elsewhere. Keep larger portions of the land fallow to reduce the use of fertilizer and where possible ie embark on large scale planting of nitrogen fixing plants such as peanuts, soya, black-eye  and then use the area for organic sugar as a niche product. Sell more molasses, brown sugar, and confectioners sugar etc.

The point is you cannot let the industry die since we need the sugar for local use and can sell some additional products made from it to generate a viable industry sized for the circumstance. As it is it cannot be a cost effective industry.

Hopefully you are successful the farmers need this to

compete with other rice producing countries.

You are joking, right?  Leh we seh, Guyana don't need anything, just couple dankey cart, canoes and few dankey cart economist to run the show!

That would be the alternatives to consider.  For TT, given its oil was/is the largest export commodity and this is offshore/coastal, and given the size of the landmass and topography, rail may have lost out to roads.  Jamaica, not sure why it's not viable.

The Brits must have seen it among their wider master plan as viable when they installed it.  Whatever, it was already there so any consideration did not need to look at building, but operating and upgrading.  Given where we are now, it's hard to see the justification purely based on population density and industrial demand.  Remember, even the Brazilian-operated bus service went out of business, so cannot see how rail can compete.  On the surface, a network of roads seem more sensible and a much better alternative to TK's canoe brigade.

Baseman - I completely agree with your analysis.  The information provided was meant for educational purposes.  It was never a suggestion that we need to build a railway system.  That ship has sailed.  Or that train has left the station.

Like everything else he does, the donkey cart economist took my point completely out of context.  My illustration was to remind people that it was the PNC who destroyed the railway system.  In the same way they are now attempting to destroy the rice and sugar industries.  The new government is prepared to destroy the rice industry.  The conversations among them are scary!

The destruction that we are heading for would be devastating.  And like the Burnham policies, it would all backfire to hurt their own people.  These people have small minds.  They don't build anything.  Their agenda is to destroy, destroy, destroy.

When I read some of these bannas advice to the PNC, man even the mediocre PNC stewps dem teeth.

Well, TK is the Donkey Cart EXPERT!!!

It is well known that transporting goods via water cost about 1/27 the cost of doing same by road. The second cheapest form of transport is rail...but who is going to fork out a few bill US$ to install a rail system? Aluh was huckstering so much that the basic concept eluded aluh re the Berbice Bridge. Of course they need more roads...but how come Jagdeo's 4 lane highways can't be completed after 14 years? It is not because of corruption as some will say. Aluh need to stop huckstering...disgrace and mek Indos look like a backward lot. Look at how Pavi had access to the visa card for henny and poke cuttahs...that was the level of intelligence surrounding Jagdeo.

There is a place for water transp and there is a place for roads.  They are separate and apart many times, but sometimes overlap.

The Bridge is good but I don't agree with the high toll for passengers.  With your logic, I doubt Guyana would even have the Demerara bridge.  How come Guyana built the 60-mile Soesdyke-Linden highway to replace RH Carriage, speedboats, etc with a easily affordable toll structure?

Regarding "Jagdeo" four-lane highway, well I did not know it was his private road.  It took a long time as it was mostly self-funded and as you may have noticed, the toll is very affordable, no one complaining.

Name anything that the PPP ever did that you think was worth the while?

Dont expect an intelligent answer from Mr Donkey Cart.

There are talkers and there are doers.  The PNC talked a lot while in opposition and now they floundering at the wheel.  Some will learn and become doers, but some others are destined to be talkers.

markets can devastate an entire industry. Look what's happening with companies doing fracking in the United States in face of low oil prices. 

Re: Guyana's Railway System

More than a decade before the railways stopped working in 1974, the Transport & Harbours Department was reporting operating losses annually. Those losses increased appreciably after 1964 when the PPP government abolished the class system. To explain: First class ticket prices were higher than third class ticket prices. First class carriages had upholstered seats while third class carriages had wooden seats. The PPP government abolished first class tickets and sold only third class tickets, resulting in a further loss of revenue to T&HD. Premier Cheddi Jagan had good intentions but they were idealistic and the move affected the T&HD adversely for the last 10 years of train operations as the Burnham government allowed the one-tier system to remain untouched. I can't find the relevant numbers on the Internet but I had access to those annual losses when I lived in Guyana.

The Burnham government decided to terminate railway services after it had upgraded the East Coast Demerara and West Coast Demerara roads. To its credit, the government shortly after publicly admitted its mistake through Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ptolemy Reid.

I will not argue for or against a re-introduction of a public railway system because I simply don't have access to a cost-benefit analysis.

Markets are the industry.  I don't know what people so baffled about.  Bauxite is dead because new Alu demand is low due to alternatives and recycling.  Sugar is limping because the international markets have shrunk due to alternatives and changing diets.  Gold is weak due to global prices. Let's hope the women of India demand larger gifts in gold due to lower prices so volume picks up.  Rice, well PNC screwed up the Venez deal, so abie struggling.  This is the one where the GoG screwed, not world forces.

Guyana needs a reliable and cheap source of energy to better industralize the economy, but the PNC/AFC killed the Amelia project.  PNC now left to stew in their own gravy as this project would have provided much needed jobs in the interim.  And as you can see, gold is in the hands of the women of India, ain't that something!

You see, thus far, what is not in our control is not and what there is, PNC royally screwing it up.  Dr Gunraj Kumar did not refer to the PNC as poison ivy for nothing.

Losing the election.

I recalled i was with his team holding meetings in Berbice

early 80's i was the tech setting up the PA system,one

of the kabaha spies trailed the team,the chap stayed in

the same hotel we overnight.

And what you think, was he right, PNC is poison ivy?

And BTW, what was the "tech" back then, did we not just juk two wire and keep going?  Just never juk both in the same place me hear!

Baseman - Excellent and On Point!!!  The PPP lucked out with this loss Of the recent election.  The world economy is entering a serious recession and world markets are going to be in poor favor of Third World World economies.  The new government has no one who can get Guyana out of this.  China and the US are both sinking.  I wouldn't worry too much about gold.  The price fluctuates and you sell when it's high and buy when it's low.  That is how the market works.

The last recession in 2008 Jagdeo held on to the steering wheel with all his might.  He knew what he was doing.  Greenidge bankrupted Guyana under the Burnham regime.  History is going to repeat itself.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!!!

Bhai the PNC in that era was certainly poison ivy,

suh ah electronic technician was a low wage earner

in those days.

You are just making up things as usual. Demand for aluminum is very high and is possibly outstripping supply by a wide margin. There will always be a high demand for aluminum and that is not replaceable soon. I is just the perfect metal

Your story about the APNU killing the rice deal is a lie. It pleases you to tell it because you need some narrative to explain why we had only one supplier in two decades.

Oye D2.  Check out "Primary Alu Production".  This is what's relevant for ore production, like Guyana.

http://www.aluminum.org/alumin...-demand-grows-5-2014

Association Vice President for Business Information & Statistics Ryan Olsen noted, "We’re seeing steady demand growth across many of our key markets. Orders of aluminum mill products are also on the rise, a leading indicator of continued growth for the industry into 2015."

Among the key findings in the latest Situation report, which is available for purchase here in the United States and Canada:

•    The industry shipped 25.5 billion pounds of aluminum through the end of 2014, a 5.0 percent increase in demand over 2013.

•    Apparent consumption of aluminum (demand less exports) in domestic markets totaled 22 billion pounds through the end of 2014, a 7.3 percent increase over 2013.

•    Total mill product shipments grew 4.5 percent in 2014, led by growth in the aluminum extrusion, foil and sheet and plate markets.

•    New  of aluminum mill products rose 3.9 percent in 2014 and are up 3.0 percent in January year-over-year.

•    Secondary recovery – or aluminum recycling – is up 4.1 percent year-to-date through November 2014. (U.S. only)

•    Primary aluminum production declined 7.1 percent in 2014 and was down 4.0 percent year-over-year in January.   

•    Imports of aluminum (excluding U.S./Canada cross-border trade) rose 20.2 percent in 2014 to 5.5 billion pounds while exports declined 6.8 percent to 7.4 billion pounds.

Olsen added, "The growth in North American demand for aluminum in 2014 was all the more impressive given the harsh winter weather the region experienced at the start of the year, and the significant impact it had on operations. Demand grew just eight-tenths of one percent year-over-year during the first four months (January – April), compared to a year-over-year increase of 7.1 percent over the final eight months.”

- See more at: http://www.aluminum.org/alumin...sthash.SHhI2GZz.dpuf

Definitely.

This ignorant babble doesn't represent evidence that a PROFITABLE railway system on the coast was possible.

And yet you think that a rail system, with higher over heads and more inflexible scheduling would be profitable?

The only use for the rail would have been to transport sugar, and yet I don't hear that high costs of transport is the MAJOR issue for Guysuco.