The government plans to build a food grain silo at Mongla port to arrest pilferages from imported cargoes.

A Bangladesh-Vietnam joint venture between the local Toma Construction & Co Ltd and the Vietnamese Asia Slipform Corporation has been selected to build the concrete silo and jetty at a cost of Tk 444.35 crore.

A further Tk 91.65 crore would be spent to build other facilities for the godown, said officials of Directorate General of Food (DG Food).

The silo, which will have the capacity to store 50,000 tonnes of wheat, will be built at Joymonirghol on the bank of Pashur river, about 17 kilometres from the Mongla port.

"We have already issued a notice of award to the selected bidder," said Ahmed Hossain Khan, director general of DG Food, while adding that various related works, such as land purchase and earth filling, have already been completed.

"Now the main silo and jetty will be built. We are expecting the completion of construction by June 2014.”

The silo will be the country's fifth, with the four existing silos built between the years of 1967 and 1970 with World Bank financing.

“But no silo was built in the last four decades,” said Khan.

The construction of the silo has been on hold since 1989, but gathered pace upon receiving Tk 200 crore as grant from Japan Debt Cancellation Fund in 2009.

At present, food grains are unloaded manually from the port -- and 90 percent of imports are unloaded from the lighter vessels without even getting weighed.

“It causes abnormal shortage of imported grains,” said Gazi Ur Rahman, director of the Mongla Port Silo Project.

He said around 10 percent of the imported cargoes at the port are lost every year, with the missing volume reaching as high as 1.21 lakh tonnes last decade.

“The percentage of pilferage at the Chittagong port, on the other hand, is very low, because of a silo there.”

The silo at Mongla will also ensure proper weighing and curtail the scope of losses, said Rahman.

“It will also facilitate proper distribution of grains in the southwest and northern parts of the country,” he added.

To ensure smooth transportation of wheat from the silo, the communications ministry plans to construct 17.5 kilometres of road and a bridge on the Mongla river to connect the port town with Joymonirghol, said DG Food officials.

The DG food also seeks Bangladesh Railway to establish a railway track up to the silo.

The four existing silos have 2.25 lakh tonnes of total storing capacity.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/15th-Oct-12