Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698077160319.pdf (Guyana)
GAR INDUSTRY LABOUR E FUND COMMITTEE kINUAL Mafia 2007 1 In accordance with Regulation 10 of The Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund Regulations made under The Sugar Industry Special Funds Act Chapter 69:03, we the members of the Committee appointed by the Honourable Minister of Labour to administer the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund, have the honour to submit our report on the administration of the Fund for the year 2007.
MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE At the beginning of the year, the Committee comprised of two Public Officers, three Trade Union Representatives and three Representatives from the Guyana Sugar Corporation.

These members were:- Mr. M.A Akeel, A.A Mr.

I.

Ally Mr. C. Duncan Mr. K. Joseph •Mr.
J. Persaud Mr. P. Bhim Mr. N. Jackson Mr. J. Petam Chairman Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Public Officers Trade Union Representatives GuySuCo Representatives The Committee which was appointed for a term of two years expired on November 20, 2007 but Cabinet extended the life of the present Committee.

During 2007 nine (9) Main Committee Meetings and three (3) Sub Committee meetings were held.
STAFF: The Staff of the Committee comprised of an Administrative Manager, a Civil Engineer Technician , an Accountant, an Assistant Accountant, a Conveyancing Officer, a Confidential Secretary, three Building Inspectors, four Senior Clerks, one Clerk I, two Clerk Typist I, one Clerk II , one.

Office Assistant, one Cleaner and one Driver.


The Civil Engineer Technician was employed on 2007-05-07 as members decided that it was necessary to have a qualified person to prepare estimates and oversee the satisfactory execution of projects.

WAGES AND SALARIES The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) remains the sole bargaining agent for the employees at SILWFC.

In 2007 the employees enjoyed a 8.5% increase in wages/salaries across the board and a Christmas Bonus of $23,500 - $28,500.
1 It was also agreed that an Incentive Scheme should be formulated to replace the Christmas bonus from 2008 onwards.

BURSARY AWARD There was no new application for bursary award.

Two recipients continued to receive awards, however, only one applicant qualified for the award in 2007 and he received $13,000.

The other applicant did not submit his progress report as is the requirement for the disbursement.

AUDIT The Committee continues its effort to have the audit of its accounts brought up to date.
During the year under review the Committee's accounts for the year 1995 and 1996 were audited.

REGISTERED EXPORTER: The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc continued to be the sole registered exporter of sugar.

Exports of sugar during 2007 totalled 246,016.35 tonne accruing a levy of $123,008,175 at the statutory rate of $500.00 per tonne.

(1) INCOME (a) Levies During the year under review levies totaling $121,497,740 were paid by GuySuCo into the Labour Welfare Fund.
Of this amount $74,876,070 were levies owing to the fund for the period August 2006 to December 2006; $46,621,670 represented levies paid for the period January 2007 — July 2007; GuySuCo has outstanding levies totaling $76,386,505 for the period August 2007 — December 2007.
(b) Loan Repayment (Remittances) When a sugar worker is granted a loan by the Committee, authorization is signed giving the management of the estate where he or she is employed, the permission to deduct a fixed amount from his/her wages/salaries each week.

Receipts are prepared in triplicate; the original receipts are given to the borrower, the duplicate receipts are forwarded to this office and the triplicate receipts are retained by the estates.
A borrower also has the option to make additional payments at the Head Office if he or she so desires.

2 At December 31, 2007 Loan repayment receipts received from the various estates showed a total of $15,491,730 as deductions from workers' wages/salaries.

Of this amount receipts totaling $2,440,950 were deductions made for the period November — December 2006 and $13,050,780 represented receipts received for repayments for January — October 2007.
During the year in review the Committee received a total of $21,088,529 as Loan remittance and this amount was deposited into the Fund .

GuySuCo remitted $16,606,823, Houston Estate - $166,350, DST - $311,950, and a total of $4,003,406 was paid by workers directly at the Head Office.

During the same period 75 workers repaid their loans in full.

The following table shows details of loan repayment and the amount remitted by GuySuCo.
RECEIPTS Unpaid amount 13/F as at Dec. 2006 Rec'd in 2007 for (2006 & 2007) PAYMENTS OUTSTANDING BALANCE Received in 2007 for 2006 and part of 2007 Amount owing by GuySuCo as at December 2007 ESTATE 2006 2007 TOTAL 2006 2007 TOTAL 2006 2007 TOTAL Skeldon East Berbice Blairmont Bath East Dem.
Wales Uitvlugt TOTAL 34,500 83,500 118,000 35,500 80,000 118,500 8,500 (9,000) (500) (c) Conveyancing of Titles and Second transfers The Committee continues to convey Certificates of Title to sugar workers who were leased land in the Extra Nuclear Housing Areas and to those who were allocated house lots in new housing areas developed by the Committee.
A total of 125 applications were received and processed.

125 applicants paid for their titles, and this number represented 51 applicants who applied in 2007 and 74 applicants who applied in previous years.

112 titles were uplifted from the Land Registry and delivered to the Registered Proprietors.

During the period in review Registered Proprietors applied to the Committee and were granted consent to transfer their properties.
The proceed from the sale of the lots totaled $2,502,564 and from the second transfer totaled $376,000.

The sum of $2,878,564 was deposited into the Fund.

(d) Sale of the Bond and Scrap Iron With the handing over of the potable water supply system to Guyana Water Incorporated, the Committee decided to dispose of the Bond at Eccles, East Bank Demerara and the Scrap Iron stored in the Bond.

Separate advertisements for the sale of the Bond and the Scrap Iron were placed in the newspapers.
Tenders were received and evaluated and the Bond was sold for seven million five hundred thousand dollars ($7,500,000) and the Scrap Iron for six hundred and six thousand dollars ($606,000).

ALLOCATION OF LOTS During 2007, the.

Committee allocated 17 house lots to sugar workers; 13 at Kilcoy/Chesney, 3 at Canefield East New Area, Canje and 1 at Plantation Hope, West Coast Berbice.

A total of $780,000 was received from 13 allottees who paid in full for their house lots.
4 allottees did not make any payment.

INCREASE IN THE IMPREST HELD AT THE BANK OF GUYANA In 2007, the Committee increased the housing loan granted to sugar workers from $200,000 to $350,000 and the repair and extension loan from $90,000 to $200,000, and to accommodate this increase a request was made to the Ministry of Finance to increase the imprest held at the Bank of Guyana from $2.5M to 3.5M.

This request was approved and the imprest now stands at $3.5M.
(2) EXPENDITURE (a) Loans to Sugar Workers to build their houses The Committee provides interest free Loan to sugar workers to assist them to construct their own homes.

Over the years the amount had to be increased due to the rise in the cost of building materials and labour.

In 2007, the Committee increased the loan from $200,000 to $350,000 and this amount was disbursed in one installment instead of the usual three installments.

Loan is also granted to workers to repair and extend their houses.
This amount was also increased in 2007 from $90,000 to $200,000 paid in one installment.

The rate of repayment was also increased from $250 to $1,000 weekly.

The Building Inspectors employed by the Committee have the responsibility to ensure that the loans disbursed are used for the intended purpose.
During the year, 72 applications for loans were received from sugar workers to construct their own homes on land allocated to them by The Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund Committee, GuySuCo and the Government and 16 applications were received from workers to repair and extend their houses.

The number of applications approved to construct new houses were 51, this number included 30 applications received during the previous years; and 22 for 2007.
45 new houses were completed in 2007 and 2 were repaired and extended.

Total loans disbursed to workers during the year under review were $17,635,000.

Details of the number of applications received, approved and disbursed during 2007 and the number of houses completed are shown in the table below.

ESTATE NO.

OF NO.

OF APPLICATIONS APPLICATIONS REC'D APPROVED New Repair New & Ext.

Repair & Ext SWR 3 East Berbice 21 8 14 14 12 Blairmont East Dem.

Wales West Dem.
Wales West Dem.

Houston - 5 6 2 1 2 - - TOTAL 72 16 3 8 1 20 9 10 1 52 - 5 3 1 2 - - 11 AMOUNT OF LOANS DISBURSED NO.

OF HOUSES COMPLETED New Repair & Ext.

550,000 - 3750,000 45,000 700,000 - 6,600,000 90,000 2,800,000 200,000 2,900,000 - - - 1 2 1 24 12 7 17,300,000 335,000 47 5 (b) Repair to the Head Office Building The handing over of the water portfolio to Guyana Water Incorporated resulted in a reduced staff level.
It was therefore agreed that the staff be housed in the lower flat of the head office building and that the upper flat be repaired and rented.

The amount expended for this repair totaled $768,074.

Unfortunately to date the Committee was not able to find any suitable person to rent the flat.
(c) Water Subsidy One of the Committees responsibilities was to provide potable water to sugar workers residing in the sugar belt and with the divestment of the water aspect to Guyana Water Incorporated the Committee agreed to subsidize water rates to all sugar workers who have met the necessary requirements.
In 2007 the Committee increased the subsidy from $900 to $3,000 and a decision was taken by members of the Committee after consultation with G.A.W.0 to pay the subsidy in January of the following year instead of November of the same year; since this would allow workers enough time to pay their water rates.

Water Subsidy for 2006 was paid in early 2007 and this amount totaled $44,100.00.

With the increase of the water subsidy to $3,000 it is expected that more workers will access the benefit.
(d) Overpayment on Loans .

During the year in review 37 workers made overpayment on their loans amounting to $316,800 and 24 persons have so far been refunded a total of $221,750.

(2) ADMINISTRATION & CONTROL A total of $30,574,945 was expended to meet administrative cost.

This included salaries to staff, stipend for Committee Members, Security for the Committee's Property (Office Building), Legal Fees etc.

3.
3.

 INSTALLATION OF PIPELINES The Committee expended $7,146,445 to install PVC pipelines and fittings at Parafield, West Coast Demerara.

6 4.

REHABILITATION WORKS In October of 2007 contracts were awarded for the rehabilitation of the roads in Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara and Kilcoy Chesney, Corentyne Coast Berbice.
The Contract price for the rehabilitation of Cornelia Ida roads using Double Bitumen surface treatment was $23,931,710 and for Kilcoy Chesney using the same surface treatment was $17,977,674.

Mobilization fees of $2,175,610 and $1,634,334 for Cornelia Ida and Kilcoy Chesney respectively were paid to the contractors.

The projects commenced in the latter part of October 2007.
10% retention fee owing to a contractor who executed the rehabilitation of a street in Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara was paid in 2007.

This amount was $2,136,378.

SEWERAGE SYSTEM The sewerage system at the Office which was in a deplorable state was rehabilitated by Guyana Water Incorporated with a cost of $397,900.

SMALL PROJECTS There were a number of small projects executed during 2007.

$69,000 were expended to resurvey three lots at Canefield New Area, Canje, Berbice.

The main access road at No.


78 Skeldon Corentyne, Berbice was rehabilitated with burnt earth at a cost of $120,000.

Preliminary works for the construction of a bus shed at Woodley Park cost $50,000.

TRANSFER OF LUSIGNAN PROPERTY The property at Lusignan known as the Midwife's Quarter was deeded over to the Guyana Sugar Corporation on 2007-05-24.

SOURCES OF INCOME - 2007 Levies together with other sources of Income for 2007 were:- SOURCE AMOUNT $ PERCENT % Levies Loan Remittance Dev.
Allocation of house lots Sale of Lots Sale of Bond Miscellaneous 121,497,740 21,088,529 780,000 2,698,564 7,500,000 2,278,307 77.96 13.53 0.50 1.73 4.82 1.46 TOTAL 155,843,140 100.00 SOURCES OF INCOME AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL INCOME 2,698,564 1.73% 7,500,000 4.82% 2,278,307 1.46% 780,000 0.50% - 1‘ 21,088,529 13.53% • Levies D Loan Remittance • Dev.
Allocation of house lots • Sale of Lots O Sale of Bond 13 Miscellaneous PAYMENT - 2007 NO: CATEGORY AMOUNT PERCENT 1 Housing & Staff Loan 2 Refund - overpayments on loan and repossession of lots 3 Rehabilitation Works 4 Execution of Small projects 5 Water Subsidy 6 Repairs to Office Building and Sewerage System 7 Purchase & Repairs to Office Equipment 8 Admin & Control TOTAL 17,835,000 361,750 5,946,322 1,450,245 44,100 1,165,974 898,949 30,574,945 58,277,285 30.62% 0.62% 10.20% 2.48% 0.07% 2.00% 1.54% 52.47% 100% INDIVIDUAL EXPENSES AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EXPENDITURE Admin.
& Control 30,574,945 52.47% Purchase & Repairs to Office Equipment / / / 898,949 1.54% Housing & Staff Loan 30.62% Refund Overpayment on loan & repossession of lots 361,750 0.62% Rehabilitation Works 5,946,322 - 10.20% Execution of Small Projects 1,450,245 2.48% \L_ Water Subsidy 44,100 0.07 Repairs to Office Building & Sewerage System 1,165,974 9_11R91.
• Housing & Staff Loan • Refund - overpayments on loan and repossession of lots El Rehabilitation Works O Execution of Small projects • Water Subsidy • Repairs to Office Building and Sewerage System • Purchase & Repairs to Office Equipment IBAdmin & Control