Dear Editor,
If there were to be the most casual check, businessmen, and indeed Skeldon Estate employees will be able to inform the relevant officials of the abandoned airfield along the highway to Crabwood Creek that was utilised by local airline services, as well as GuySuCo who owned it. Like all Berbice sugar estates, there were/are airstrips to accommodate GuySuCo’s internal air services mostly for agricultural operations. One is uncertain as to whether such technical applications are still being utilised aerially. In connection with the most recent pronouncements, it is not certain whether the Minister of Agriculture and/or the Board of GuySuCo have been previously apprised of the proposed developments, and therefore what would be the legal process inherent in the transitioning of the ‘Aerodrome’ from the sugar industry to a proposed aeronautic authority, moreso in the context of re-operationalising sugar production at Rose Hall Estate.
There is also the question as to the extent the industry has been consulted in relation to the projected take-over of its Apprentice Training School at Port Mourant – planned to be converted into a facility for training Oil and Gas operatives. It would not immediately appear as if most, if any, of the Centre’s current infrastructure, equipment and its trainers would be readily adaptable to the new dispensation. In any case, the project must involve the appointment of a relevantly competent executive management team that must agree with related Oil and Gas actors on the following, amongst others:
– Mission of the new training institution
– Curricula involved
– Selection of related specialist tutors
– Organisational Management Structure
– Equipment/Tools/PPE
– Number of students to be accommodated – for respective
programmes
– Domestic accommodation for necessarily resident students
(non-regional)
– Compensation Structure and other employment conditions
– Related allowances for students
– Approved certifications (would TVET be involved?)
– Entry level requirements (including for Caricom applicants)
for satisfying the selection process.
– Apart from tutors, other support staff that will be necessary
In the meantime, what specifically is the future of GuySuCo’s Apprentice Training Programme; and for that matter, the re-development of sugar production at Rose Hall Estate – what a competitive work environment for Region 6 (Maximum). Meanwhile, what news is there of the GOAL scorers who would have completed respectively the two, four, six months and one year programmes into what jobs/organisations have they been absorbed? More critically, the decision-makers need to consider how many of Berbice sugar estates technically equipped employees may seek ‘greener’ pastures!
Sincerely,
E.B. John
