President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Ramsay Ali has revealed the organization’s intention to establish a glass bottle processing facility. He made this revelation while addressing those gathered at the GMSA’s annual mid-year dinner.
Currently, he said, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is engaged in a feasibility assessment regarding the potential establishment of the facility which has the objective of meeting the requirements of the two prominent beverage enterprises. “I’m pleased to say that study has started and we have a timeline of about two months before we can get the results of that study,” Ali said.
Guyana Standard understands that the IDB has enlisted the services of Ernst and Young, a London-based company known for being a global leader in assurance, consulting, strategy and transactions, and tax services.
Last year, the GMSA’s former President, Rafeek Khan in an investment pitch to its Trinidad and Tobago counterpart, noted that the association would love to see glass production in Guyana which could be of benefit to both countries. He revealed that Guyana attempted glass manufacturing with the establishment of a factory, on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway in the 1980s but it was shut down for several reasons.
Nevertheless, Ali in his address noted that the factory will not only benefit major companies such as Banks DIH and Demerara Distillers Limited but also medium-sized enterprises and small agro-processors that are in need.
He also said, “Given the imminent energy developments in our nation, this project would be significantly more viable now compared to a decade ago, mainly due to the energy consumption required by such a facility.” He was at the time referring to the upcoming gas processing facility at Wales, West Bank Demerara which falls under the government’s landmark Gas-to-Energy project. He said that the 300-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant has the potential to effectively meet the electricity demands of a glass bottling plant.
