PM seeks to reassure sugar workers

Prime Minister Bruce Golding today sought to reassure sugar workers that they will receive redundancy payments once the divestment of the assets of the Sugar Company of Jamaica is completed.



The Government had announced that five state owned sugar factories, the ethanol plant and sugar lands would be divested or leased to the Brazilian firm Infiniti Bio Energy by September 30.



When they failed to meet that deadline Agriculture Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton announced that the agreement had provisions for a 90 day extension for the deal to be completed.



Today Mr. Golding promised that redundancy payments would be made to the workers once the deal is finalised. He expressed confidence that the divestment process will be completed shortly but was not willing to state a date.



The Prime Minister did not comment on reports that Infiniti Bio Energy is having trouble coming up with the cash that it will need for the deal but instead pointed to several issues which he said were still to be worked out.



He was addressing a function at Jamaica House where the European Union handed over $365-million to the Jamaican government for the country\'s sugar programme.



This has increased the EU\'s grants to Jamaica to $860 million to help the country deal with the fall out from the reduction in the price Europe pays for sugar.