Dominica Agriculture Minister Roland Royer announced a $4 million investment in Portsmouth’s Coffee Plant restoration.
He announced it on Focus on Government and Development.
“The first collaborating with the Venezuelans, we [spent] roughly $4 million to repair the Portsmouth Coffee Plant.”
“We know it was destroyed by Hurricane Maria, and even before that we had some operating challenges, and so, as we speak we have all the equipment necessary, fully packaged and ready to be transported, and will be on island before May of 2023,” he said.
Royer continued, “So far we have introduced water, DOWASCO lines to the plant that were not there previously, and of course, we work with DOMLEC as well to install and repair the transformer which will be commissioned when we are ready to run the facility.”
He said that the government has also assessed the intake of $2 million BTU of natural gas needed to operate a facility.
“We are putting things in place and working,” he said.
When the government receives the equipment, Venezuela will provide technical assistance and a consultant will install it, “and then the consultant will also teach young folks to handle the machinery to have the Coffee Plant running,” Royer said.
Royer added that to start operations at the factory, the government will buy green coffee beans from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Venezuela to process and sell back to their nations while Dominica grows output.
