PM lauds Malaysian company for its confidence in agri sector

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds on Saturday paid a visit to the Bornion Guyana Inc. test farm at Kairuni, on the Linden/ Soesdyke Highway and lauded the company for its confidence in Guyana.

“They bring their experience and the important thing is that their experience motivates them to see what is possible, where, maybe many times, we can’t see because we haven’t had that experience”, Hinds said.

“The sector motivates them to make the kind of investment that would be required to lay in the infrastructure, roads, drains and irrigation canals, and it’s quite a significant investment for Guyana.”

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds (second from left), Yvonne Hinds (second from right), Chairman of Borion Guyana Inc., Kok-Tiong Wee (left), and Executive Director, Chiok-Boon Tan during a tour of the test farm at Kairuni.  (GINA photo)
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds (second from left), Yvonne Hinds (second from right), Chairman of Borion Guyana Inc., Kok-Tiong Wee (left), and Executive Director, Chiok-Boon Tan during a tour of the test farm at Kairuni. (GINA photo)

Bornion has kept a low profile. In February this year, Stabroek News reported that Bornion had completed the construction of a shade house at Kairuni to act as a nursery for rubber plants.

BGI, a subsidiary of the Malaysian Wee Boon Ping Group of Companies, was allocated an initial 10,000 acres of land in the Canje basin as part of a proposal to invest US$500 million in the agricultural and forestry sectors.

So far Bornion has completed the shade house on a five-acre plot located at Kairuni on the highway. The shade house construction is in partnership with the Guyanese Government. According to sources the government will take over the shade house once Bornion is finished and it will be utilised by the agriculture ministry.

Stabroek News was made to understand that Bornion was also in the process of soil analysis and that tests are ongoing. There has been no explanation why a nursery is being established so far from the eventual site of the planned large-scale agriculture project in the Canje Basin.

The ongoing work by Bornion came after it was revealed that neither the Guyana Forestry Commis-sion nor the opposition parties were notified of the proposed half a billion US dollar investment.

APNU shadow agriculture minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine noted that he was only made aware of the investment through a Stabroek News article. He noted that the various memoranda signed between foreign investors and the Guyanese government need to be disclosed and discussed.

GINA on Saturday said that a Memorandum of Understanding between Bornion and the Govern-ment of Guyana was signed on September 6, 2012, paving the way for the company to set up shop in Guyana.

It has expressed interest in bio-energy following the opening of the bio-ethanol demonstration plant at Albion, Region Six. GINA said that the company is mainly interested in palm oil for bio-fuel production and producing other nutritious crops.

Among crops to be cultivated in the Canje Basin are rubber, citrus, palm oil, dragon fruit, sugar cane, tomatoes and other cash crops and avocado.

GINA said that in this initial stage of two-and- a -half years, the company has invested approximately US$1M on testing feasibility of the production of the envisioned produce at Kairuni.

The initial results from the feasibility studies are encouraging, according to the Administrative and Financing head of the company, Gavin Sing.

While at the test farm, GINA said that the Prime Minister took the time to participate in the planting of a rambutan tree.