US-based company to inject US$38m into Long Pond sugar factory

The operators of the Hampden Estate have announced a deal with a United States-based entity to inject some US$38 million or J$4.9 billion to transform the Long Pond sugar factory into a co-generation facility.

In a release this morning, CEO of Hampden Estate, Andrew Hussey, said the Trelawny-based sugar producer is partnering with the US-based Arrakis Development to transform the Long Pond sugar factory.

He says this will allow Hampden to continue producing sugar as well as electricity from the sugar-making process.

Hussey says the transformation will essentially turn around the fortunes of the loss-making sugar producer which had turned over operation to the government amid mounting losses.

The Government had said it was pulling its support to Long Pond at the end of the 2016 sugar crop.

The Hampden CEO says the transformation will return Long Pond to economic viability.

He says the company will be able to retain jobs, with the prospect of adding more on the power generation side of the operations.

The Hampden CEO explains that the co-generation process will be powered by steam that will be produced from bagasse during the sugar-making process.

The steam will in turn be used to power turbines that will produce electricity.

He says even the dunder that is a waste product of the sugar-making process will be used to boost electricity generation, thereby reducing the environmental impact of the company's operations.

The deal is awaiting approval by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, as well as the Ministry of Science, Technology and Energy.