STAFF REPORT LHR: The Punjab government is mulling to have modern silos for storing wheat as the storage infrastructure and manual handling of procurement processes are archaic – involving huge discretion and corruption.
“The provincial government would build a highly-equipped multi-grain storage, to begin with, 350,000 tons – to be increased gradually once the public-private partnership concept takes psychological and financial roots,” a government official of the provincial government told the media.
The silos were expected to control supply chain losses, containing corruption and standardising wheat in domestic market. Once the storage becomes scientific, it is expected to improve chances of export to high-end markets and diversify domestic market, the official explained.
It is to be mentioned that the Punjab government has already hired an international consultant in this regard.
Punjab purchases wheat worth around Rs100 billion every year. Its supply chain losses, as studied by the consultant are well over seven per cent. In financial terms, it means a loss of over Rs7 billion every year on total storage.
In case of public-private partnership projects, the provincial government does not need to make upfront payment of billions of rupees.

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