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Pakistan gears up to
export 1,000,000 tonnes wheat every year: Junejo
ISLAMABAD-Khair Muhammad Junejo, Minister for Food and
Agriculture, said on Monday the government would help the
private sector planning to build food grain storage facilities
to enable the country to export one million tonnes of wheat
every year.
"The private sector will store food grains mainly wheat of
international quality and they will have no restrictions to
export one million tonnes of wheat every year," Junejo told
The News after a meeting of the Board of Investment (BoI),
which short-listed 13 proposals from the private sector for
food grain storage facilities in the country. Out of 13, seven
will be in the up country and six at Port Qasim.
"This assurance will ensure the capital investment guarantee
to the private sector to speed up their export operations," he
added. Junejo reviewed the progress on plans to enhance the
capacity of the private sector. The Advisor to the Chief
Executive on Food and Agriculture Shafi Niaz also attended the
meeting. Junejo said the government was offering assured
business to the private sector for the first time to invest in
the building of food grain storage facilities.
He said the involvement of the private sector in grain storage
facilities would be in accordance with the strict standard
procedures on implementation and performance report, which
would ensure transparency for every competitor planning to
participate in this new avenue of business in the agriculture
sector.
The government had already announced a package for the private
sector to develop 500,000 tonnes storage capacity in the
private sector in the shape of silos and renting facility by
the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL)
through Pakistan Agricultural Supply and Storage Corporation (PASSCO).
The investor would be free to develop higher storage capacity
of any commodity than the capacity negotiated with government.
The MINFAL would provide the specifications of wheat at the
time of receipt and delivery to the private sector. The
investors could finalise with MINFAL all or partial services
and rates.
The scope of services which has been provided in the package
consists of purchase of wheat from farms/markets, bulk
shipment of bagging, transportation of storage, unloading,
receiving, cleaning/laboratory control, actual storage,
maintenance and management of storage including fumigation and
supply to government on-tonnes-for-tonnes basis. Sources said
the government is also considering a proposal to provide the
credits to the private sector at lower interest rate so that
the private sector could get incentives in the storage
business.
courtesy Daily The News , 9
April, 2002
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Pakissan.com;
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