Guantánamo.- The Argeo Martínez sugar mill, the only one operating in the eastern province of Guantánamo, is scheduled to begin milling on January 16th, with the challenge of processing 100,000 tons of sugarcane, of which 79,000 tons come from Guantánamo and 21,000 tons from sugarcane fields in neighboring Santiago de Cuba.
The sugar mill’s workers are in a race against time to start the harvest on the scheduled date. Power outages and limitations in material resources are currently causing delays in the mill’s repairs.
Juan Carlos Martínez Azahares, director of the Guantánamo Sugar Company, reported that there are delays in preparing the mills.
He explained that the other manufacturing areas of the mill are ready and that the investment in repairs, just in the boiler houses, exceeds 10 million pesos.
The steam pipes were also replaced, some due to leaks and others because their thickness was below the appropriate standard. This allows for increased efficiency in steam generation, Martínez Azahares argued.
A fleet of more than 140 pieces of equipment, including combine whole stalk, loaders, trucks, locomotives, and livestock cars, among others, will guarantee cane cutting, loading and unloading operations during the upcoming 55-day sugar harvest.
