Construction on the arrowroot starch factory in Owia has been restarted following several consultations, after being hindered by the eruptions of La Soufriere volcano in 2021.
This was confirmed by Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar during a call to the Shake Up program aired on WE FM.
Minister Caesar that the setback of the work on the factory was not just related but the foundation of the factory was impacted by the eruption which caused a significant hold up.
“But remember the arrowroot factory is located in the red zone and it was—the foundation was impacted in a very negative way so we had to go back to the donors, we had to speak to the central government, we had to speak with the technicians and the contractor and we concluded those conversations about six months ago and were able to restart the process of construction,” he said.
The 2021 eruptions of La Soufriere not only crippled arrowroot production by dumping huge amounts of ash on farmers’ lands; it also destroyed the country’s lone starch producing factory.
