KARACHI, Dec 3: The defunct state-owned Dadu Sugar Mills will commence production from Thursday (Dec 4) under the private management of Naudero Sugar Mills after a gap of 10 long years.

The mill was privatised by the Sindh Sugar Corporation after continued losses and was bought by the Naudero Sugar Mills management at an estimated price of Rs90 million.

The new owners spent Rs250 to 300 million to make the mills operational, and it would provide jobs to about 900 people in the season.

The new mill replaces over 80 per cent old machinery and parts, and has the capacity to crush 2,600 tons of sugarcane daily compared to 3,200 tons capacity of the old mills.

The mill was handed over to the new management in July, which readied it for production in a record time of five months. The cane crushing is expected to be inaugurated by the Sindh chief minister.

Asked about the fate of old employees, a spokesman for the mills said all the employees of the state-owned mills have reached settlement with the Sindh government which absorbed them in various departments. There was no liability of the employees on the new management.

The spokesman said that the position of cane supply in the Dadu district is not good and the mill will acquire raw material from other districts. However, he hoped that the situation would improve next year.

The other state-owned mill -- Thatta sugar -- mills is out of production because of court cases filed by its creditors. It is yet to be privatised by the Sugar Corporation.

Meanwhile, Sindh Cane Commissioner Nazeer Jamali told Dawn that 18 mills started crushing till Tuesday. The new Dadu Sugar Mills is likely to start crushing on Dec 5. Two other mills, Abadgar and Tando Mohammad Khan, are likely to start crushing before Eid.

The greater setback is the non-functioning of about nine mills situated in Thatta and Badin region as there is no sufficient cane for them to start production. They are likely to resume production after Eid.

He said that there were general complaints of shortage of sugarcane from mills that went into production from Nov 1 against the official crushing date of Nov 10 fixed by the Sindh government.

There will be a tug of war for cane supply among sugar mills as the crop is 40 per cent less than last year which witnessed a bumper crop.