The Saudi Arabian government plans to invite bids for three major projects to boost its grain silos capacity and flour production as it pushes ahead with an ambitious silos privatization program, an official said in remarks on Saturday.
The state-owned General Organization for Grain Silos and Flour Mills (GSFMO) said the projects will be undertaken by the private sector and would include expansion of silo storage capacity and the construction of new flour mills in various areas within the kingdom.
The projects will boost the country's present silo storage capacity by 240,000 tons and flour production by 600,000 tons per day, the organization's director general Walid Al Khuraiji said as quoted by the Saudi Arabic language daily Aleqtisadiah.
He also mentioned that the projects involve the construction of new silos in the western Red Sea port of Yanbu, which will boost storage capacity to 120,000 tons, new units in Duba port on the Red Sea that will expand capacity to another 120,000 tons and the building of a new flour production unit in the Western town of Medina with a daily output of 600,000 tons.
Khuraiji said nine GSFMO sites have been designated for privatization, including five mills in the capital Riyadh, six in Jeddah, three each in the eastern port of Dammam and the southern province of Asir, two in the central town of Alqaseem, and one mill each in Medina and the northern towns of Hail, Jouf and Tabouk.
"We are currently working to complete existing projects that will be commissioned in the near future as we pursue plans for privatization, which should be completed in 2015," said Khuraiji.
He disclosed that those ventures include two new flour mills with a capacity of 1,200 tons per day and another silo with a storage capacity of 250,000 tons in the western town of Jamoum; a 600-ton mill and new silos with a capacity of 1,200 tons in Jazan and a 600-ton mill in the eastern province of Ihsa.
"We are also working on a project to expand the capacity of silos in Jeddah and Dammam to lift their wheat storage capacity to140,000 tons each.
© Zawya 2013
