Reddy on new sugar mill in Rakiraki

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Chairman of the Fiji Sugar Corporation board of directors Nitya Reddy (left) with Mahendra Chaudhry and permanent Secretary Sugar Yogesh Karan at the FSC AGM in Lautoka. Picture: BALJEET SINGH

A new sugar mill that was promised to be built in Rakiraki by the Coalition Government will be “very difficult to build purely on commercial basis”.

That’s the word from the Fiji Sugar Corporation chairman Nitya Reddy, who acknowledged that The People’s Alliance party and the National Federation Party had committed that they would reinstate the mill in Rakiraki.

“At that stage. Generally, there was a feeling that we were able to reset the industry to a better level,” he said.

“We have had as much as 330,000 tonnes of cane from Rakiraki, unfortunately, the cane situation has changed very dramatically and in the current year, we got only 110,000 tonnes of cane.

“It will be very difficult, purely on commercial basis, to justify a mill that is going to cost you between $125-$150million.”

He said the Penang mill project was being “very seriously” evaluated by all the stakeholders.

“The whole issue of putting up a new mill in Rakiraki has a multi-generational, impact, and for that reason, we’ve got to be very careful about the decision which we’re making. We are going through a very elaborate process of doing due diligence, and hopefully we should have an answer within the next six months.”