Mr M Maxwell is normally very careful with the underlying facts and assumptions in his letters and for that reason they are always worth reading. I am therefore surprised that in his letter to the editor in the Stabroek News of May 28, (‘Enmore’s packaging plant produces less than that of Kenya and costs more’) he would carelessly claim that “I provided an overall figure of US$12.5 million for the cost of only the Enmore packaging plant itself.”
I would appreciate if Mr Maxwell could indicate where in my letter in the Stabroek News of May 17, I made any such statement. Perhaps he is confusing the letter with a report carried in the Kaieteur News in which the journalist used some of the information contained in my Stabroek News letter. But clearly it could not be with respect to the price tag since that was not in my letter to the Stabroek News.
Mr Maxwell might recall that it was the Minister of Agriculture Mr Robert Persaud who following a January 2010 visit to the Enmore plant then under construction told the press that that government was investing $2.4 billion – roughly US$12 million – in the packaging plant.
This is not intended to be a criticism of Mr Maxwell since it is human to err.