SUKKUR, Aug 9: Three modern date processing plants will be established under the trade policy by the end of 2008, one each in Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP, at a cost of Rs78.6 million.

President of the Dates Exporters Association (DEA) Khairpur, Bashir Ahmed Arain told APP on Thursday that Pakistan Horticulture Development and Exports Board (PHDEB) is ready to invite tenders for construction of date processing plant at Khairpur at a cost of Rs 24.113 million by 2008.

In this regard, he said tenders for two other plants, one each at Dera Ismail Khan and Turbat will be floated within a couple of months.

He said work on Khairpur plant is under way to hold bidding for “up-to-the-mark” plant, which would be established on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis. These plants are being built along with cold storage facilities, he added.

Chairman DEA Arain further said Pakistan ranks fourth in dates production and fifth in its exports around the world.

He said under PPP, the Sindh government has provided two acres of land for this purpose.

The Sindh government also released Rs19.946 million from the Export Development Fund (EDF) and would take care of the cost of plant machinery, equipment, vehicles and other civil works, he said.

Presiedent DEA said that day-to-day operations would be entrusted to a team of professionals hired from the private sector, which would also contribute the working capital of around Rs4.167 million while a private limited company had also been formed to accomplish the management work of the plant, which was named as Khairpur Dates Processing Plant (KDPP).

He said the company, duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), would have its members from PHDEB, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Agriculture Research Institute, DRC, Kot Diji Taluka, Khiarpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), investors and growers from the private sector of Khairpur district.

He further said the Board has set 2008 as a deadline for completion of the KDPP, which is estimated to produce more than 2,000 tons of processed dates during the 150 working days.

He said the KDPP for which funds had been transferred to the account of the company would be built to improve the quality of dates and increase the level of value-addition and added that the proposed plant would be based on multiple products, including pitted and stuffed dates and would increase the level of value- addition.

—APP