Barama announces its return to plywood manufacturing

Local timber giant Barama Company Limited (BCL) has officially announced that it is back in plywood manufacturing after nine months of closure due to the damaged boiler at its Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara plant.

The company announced reopening of the plywood plant on June 17, after meeting earlier in the day with Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud and senior officials of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). Barama had restarted producing plywood at the repaired factory since June 1, 2011.

In a press release, BCL noted the “unfortunate closure on October 4, 2010, when the boiler overheated due to the lack of water supply.” According to the company, its engineers and contractors worked assiduously to restore the operations in the timeliest and most cost effective manner.

During the restoration process, the company said, it took the opportunity to review its “productive capacity and level of productivity”, now increased by approximately 50 per cent. Average monthly output is now 2,400 cubic metres, up from 1,600 cubic metres. There has also been an 11 per cent increase in recovery.

Barama has since noted that “production volume of today has surpassed the production volume achieved prior to the boiler incident.”

To date, the company has employed 243 workers for the production of plywood under an ‘integrated process’, which involves the supplying of veneer sheets from Barama’s Buckhall location to its Land of Canaan plywood assembly plant. With this restart, the company indicated, it intensified its technical training programme and occupational health & safety training.

Overall, the company is convinced this restart would bring greater business opportunities for local suppliers of goods and services, including local log suppliers; direct contribution to the government’s local housing drive; and greater revenue earnings for the country as a whole, among other things.

“As a longstanding investor in Guyana, we remain committed in ensuring that there are no compromises in the fulfillment of our obligations,” Barama assured.

The company also expressed gratitude to all stakeholders, including the company’s investors, the Guyana government, the Guyana Labour Union, suppliers of goods and services, and its staff members.