1,100 workers rehired as Rose Hall Estate goes back into operation next month

This was revealed by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha who defended a request for supplementary funding on Wednesday in the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly.

Mustapha was defending a request for additional funding – some $1.5 billion – for the provision of additional resources to facilitate the rehabilitation of 1,572 hectares of temporarily abandoned lands at Albion, Blairmont, Rose Hall and Uitvlugt estates.

As he spoke about the need to rehabilitate these lands, he said, “By the end of September, Rose Hall will start and smoke will come out of that chimney again.

“We have employed approximately 1,100 workers that were fired.”

He also noted that more than 4,000 hectares of cane have been replanted at this estate and the government expects that 56,000 tonnes of sugar would be produced next year.

Earlier this year, when the National Assembly was considering the 2023 National Budget, Mustapha said $1.195 billion will be used to support the re-opening of this estate. Spending will cater for the purchase of new equipment and rehabilitating older equipment.