EQUIPMENT FOR the dairy processing plant planned for Old Harbour, south west St. Catherine, has arrived in the island and is being cleared from the wharf.
Planned nearly four years ago, the future of the project remains uncertain, as the Government is unable to provide funding to complete its construction. Funding for the equipment is being provided separately from the cost of the factory, initially estimated at $200 million.
"The difficulty in releasing funds is for (building) the factory itself," said Albert Walker, plant manager of the Jamaica Dairy Farmers' Federation (JDFF) Century Farms operation.
Clearing machine parts from the port started about a month ago as they came in different shipments, he explained.
The Finance Ministry has already paid 30 per cent of the US$1.8 million (J$108 million) cost of the equipment, and has been granted a line of credit on the remaining 60 per cent, Mr. Walker said.
The new dairy processing plant was proposed to be built through a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The announcement was made by Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke who said the project was to prevent the spoilage and widescale dumping of milk by dairy farmers who were unable to market their supplies.
Mr. Clarke who made the announcement at the 2000 Hague Agricultural Show in Trelawny said then that the plant would have come on stream "in a couple of months".
