The Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Thursday floated a young to construct 2.47 million tonne (MT) capability silos throughout 66 places by the non-public sector beneath the design, construct, finance, personal and function mannequin.
Sources advised FE that estimated non-public funding in constructing these silos over the subsequent two years might be round Rs 2,500 crore.
Silos with 1.8 MT capability for 20 places in Punjab; 720,000 tonne for twenty-four places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal; and 660,000 tonne capability for 18 places in Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Madhya Pradesh are being deliberate by the FCI.
The FCI will use the silos for storage of wheat by way of a lease of thirty years with non-public entities. Fixed storage fees to be paid by the FCI to non-public entities based mostly on a per tonne per 12 months foundation are the bidding parameters. This fastened cost escalates by 70% of the wholesale value index and 30% of the buyer value index.
Currently, round 2.8 MT capability silos are beneath numerous phases of building by way of non-public sector funding and the company goals to construct near 11 MT of silos capability for storing wheat within the subsequent 4 to 5 years.
Earlier this 12 months, the meals ministry has authorised a coverage which inspires the non-public gamers to bid for building of 249 state-of-art silos with near 11 MT wheat storage capability for the FCI. The silos are being constructed throughout 12 states, together with Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and Kerala, by way of the public-private partnership (PPP) mannequin with a complete estimated funding of Rs 9,200 crore.
Sources mentioned that ‘through bundling of projects’, the meals ministry has eliminated an earlier clause which used to limit massive non-public gamers or consortium from taking part in bidding for a variety of initiatives for building of silos.
As a part of a pilot initiative, two rice silos with a mixed storage capability of 25,000 tonne are at the moment being constructed at Buxar and Kaimur in Bihar by non-public entities for FCI.
Food ministry officers say that if meals grains are saved in silos and transported in bulk, losses resulting from theft, pilferage and transportation could be negligible in comparison with the meals grains saved in warehouses.
Meanwhile, in a serious initiative to remove storage losses of foodgrains, FCI will discontinue the observe of storing wheat in uncovered services from September this 12 months to enhance lined storage services and guarantee direct switch of grains from procurement centres to the states for public distribution.
FCI shops round 50 MT to 60 MT of rice and wheat at any given level of time. Silos guarantee higher preservation of foodgrains and enhances the shelf life.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”