Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) has decided to construct new godowns having capacity to store 1,150,000 metric tons of wheat at a cost of Rs 4.556 billion. This new storage will also include steel silos having capacity of storing 650,000 metric tons of wheat.
Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will extend eighty percent of the funding for this project. The Bank has approved a project of construction of steel silos with a cost of 45 million dollars. This was disclosed by the Managing Director Passco Major General Sohail Shafqat while addressing a press conference here on Thursday. He said, at present, the storage capacity of the Corporation is around 431,200 metric tons. The Corporation has also prepared a PC-I to construct house type godowns for storing 500,000 metric tons of wheat with the assistance of Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
Giving break-up of the funding on developing more storage for the Corporation, MD Passco said Rs 650 million would be spent during the financial year 2010-11, Rs 1,600 million during 2011-12 and Rs 2,306 million during the fiscal 2012-13. He said under this project, the Corporation would build steel silos for 490,000 metric tons of wheat in Punjab, 80,000 metric tons steel silos in Sindh, 50,000 metric tons steel silos storage in Balochistan and 30,000 metric tons steel silos in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.
Talking about the wheat procurement campaign 2010, Sohail Shafqat said the Corporation procured 1,127,551 metric tons of wheat from Punjab and Sindh during this season against the target of 1.6 million tons. Thus it achieved 70.49 percent of the target.
Giving province-wise break up of the procured wheat, he said the Corporation procured 1,097,415 metric tons of wheat from 15 tehsils of the Punjab province and 30, 136 metric tons of wheat from Sindh. Explaining the reasons for not meeting the procurement target, Passco head said they were in need of Rs 42 billion to procure assigned target of wheat purchase. However, the Corporation could only arrange Rs 29 billion from the commercial banks. He said that they could not arrange required financial due to carry over stocks of wheat from the last season.
'We have 755, 601 metric tons of wheat from the procurement season 2009 as carry over stocks as the Corporation procured record over 2.1 million tons of wheat during that season,' he said and added that at present Corporation has over 1.8 million tons of wheat in its stocks. He said the Corporation has a mandate to buy wheat and other commodities for stabilisation of prices and to keep strategic reserves for ensuring food security in the country. He said that the Corporation also bought paddy and rice during last two years on government prescribed rates to help stabilisation the prices of this commodity in favour of the growers. The Corporation bought 436,512 metric tons of rice in 2008-09 from Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. This commodity was disposed off in instalments and at present there are 185, 000 metric tons of rice are present in the stocks of the Corporation.
Major General Sohail Shafqat clarified that the Corporation was not facing a debt of Rs 84 billion as claimed by some quarters, rather if it is under debt than it also has assets of the same amount with it, in shape of wheat, rice and other commodities it purchased from the growers on the instruction of the government. He said that the Corporation deposited Rs 473 million as tax in the government exchequer during the financial year 2009-10 whereas arrears of Rs 7 billion are outstanding against various provinces and other institutions. He also claimed that Standing Committee on Agriculture of the Senate had praised the performance of the Corporation and urged that it should be given more area to play an effective role. He also proudly claimed that the Corporation has no storage losses for the last five years.
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