PANAJI
After remaining shut for nearly seven crushing seasons, Goa’s lone co-operative sugar factory, Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd (SSSK), is set for revival, with the State government targeting its return to operations from the next season.
The State Cabinet on Friday approved the redevelopment of the Sanjivani Sugar Factory on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, with the bidder for the project having been finalised. “Cabinet has approved the bidder and the factory will be redeveloped,” Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told media persons post meeting.
The factory has remained closed since the 2019-20 crushing season, severely affecting more than 700 sugarcane farmers across Goa. With the factory’s revival delayed for years, several cultivators have either shifted to other crops or substantially reduced their sugarcane cultivation. Appealing to farmers to resume sugarcane cultivation, Sawant said the government would procure their produce from the coming crushing season. “I appeal to our farmers to start cultivating sugarcane. We will be taking the produce from the next crushing season onwards,” he said. Under the redevelopment plan, the factory will be modernised with a minimum sugarcane crushing capacity of 3,500 tonnes per day (TCD), besides an ethanol distillery with a minimum capacity of 75 kilolitres per day (KLPD) and an Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) bottling plant. The government had invited bids for modernisation of the factory in December last year. The project, estimated to cost around Rs 130 crore, will be implemented under the Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer (DFBOT) model on around 2.4 lakh square metres of land.
The latest tender has generated greater interest compared to the previous attempts, with four companies participating in the bidding process.
Meanwhile, the government last month extended financial assistance to the loss-making cooperative for another year to meet employee salaries and operational expenses. Since the assistance scheme was introduced in 2020, the State has spent nearly Rs 35 crore in grants to support the factory.
