No change in sugar privatization deal, says Weir

Agriculture Minister, Indar Weir, denies that government has altered the terms of the agreement for privatizing the sugar industry and he will be meeting this week with Co-op Energy Barbados over the status of the deal.

Mr. Weir was speaking to Starcom Network News in response to comments allegedly made by President of the Co-op, Trevor Browne, who has been quoted in the press as saying that the government has reneged on an agreement to have the privatized sugar industry operation one hundred percent privately owned.

Mr. Browne is also reported to have said that the government has submitted a new agreement proposing to retain a 25 percent interest in the arrangement and to have two members of the state-owned Barbados Agriculture Management Company (BAMC) sit on the board.

Mr. Weir insists that’s not accurate.

Mr. Weir also says the Co-Op Energy is yet to pay any of the 16 million dollars that it was required to inject into the project as part of the privatization deal.