Divestment of the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) should be a done deal by year end.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Indar Weir, tells Starcom Network News he expects to be taking a paper on the matter to cabinet soon.
He made it clear he’s unable to disclose further details of the plan until it is approved by the cabinet.
But, his comments follow the announcement by President of Barbados Sustainable Energy Co-operative Society Limited, Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Browne, that Co-Op Energy, is likely to take over BAMC’s operations by year end and transition it to a significant focus on energy production.
The agriculture minister would only say that private investors have come forward.
Mr. Weir indicates completion of the deal is imminent.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Indar Weir.
Meantime, the credit union consortium promises to invest more than a hundred million dollars to transform the sugar cane industry into a major energy producer.
Lieutenant Colonel Browne tells Starcom Network News he’s confident the proposed take-over will get approval.
Under the plan, Co-Op Energy, a company created by the credit union movement, would take over the BAMC which oversees the management, production and sale of sugar.
Lieutenant Colonel Browne explained that along with producing sugar and molasses, the by-product of the process, bagasse, will become a major bio-fuel to generate electricity.
He says the ownership structure gives not just credit unions and their members, but also sugar industry workers and other individuals a stake in the lucrative energy industry.
