Country’s largest steel silo construction begins in Ctg

Highlights:

• Eight silos are being built in the country to strengthen the country's food security and agriculture sector 
• The Patenga silo will store 1,14,300 MT of food grains for three years
• It will ensure safe storage against the effects of climate change including floods and cyclones

Construction of the country's biggest steel silo begins in Chattogram's Patenga today.

Built with cutting-edge technology, this silo will have a food grain storage capacity of 1,14,300 tonnes for several years.

A total of eight silos are being built across the country to strengthen the country's food security and agriculture sector, according to officials of the Directorate General of Food.

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the silo construction, told The Business Standard (TBS), "Eight steel silos, the largest one being in Chattogram, are being built throughout the country under the World Bank's Modern Food Storage Facilities Project (MFSP)."

Project Director Md Rezaul Karim Sheikh told TBS that six acres of land in Patenga have already been developed to implement the project. 

"The silo will have a total of nine bins, each with a storage capacity of 12,700 metric tonnes. Even when food grains are stored for three consecutive years, the quality will not deteriorate," he said, adding that the project will cost Tk537 crore, and is expected to be completed within the next three years.

Regional Food Controller of Chattogram Md Zahirul Islam Khan told TBS, "The Patenga silo will be able to store 1,14,300 tonnes of wheat. There will be no more crisis in meeting the country's flour needs."

"Currently, the country has the capacity of storing 22 lakh tonnes of food grains, of which, 4.5 lakh tonnes is wheat," he said.

"The effects of climate change including floods and cyclones are having a negative impact on food production. This steel silo will play an important role in ensuring the safe storage of food grains during natural calamities in the country while keeping the quality and nutritional value intact," Zahirul Islam added.

The existing food warehouses in Chattogram are old. A lot of food grains have already gone to waste in some places including Dewanhat CSD due to a number of issues, including a damp environment and insect infestation, according to food officials.

Fani Bhushan Devnath, a sub-divisional engineer of the Chattogram Regional Controller of Food Office, told TBS, "Wheat imported from abroad will be stored directly from the ship to the Patenga silo bin through a special pipe with no chance of exposure to air."

Everything will be controlled by automatic digital machines starting from food storage and distribution to vitamin mixing in these steel silos, he added.

Three lakh families in disaster-prone areas will get home silos 

"Besides in Chattogram, silos are being built in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Mymensingh, Barishal, Ashuganj, Maheswarpasha and Madhupur. Six of the silos are for rice and two for wheat storage. Once completed, the food grain storage capacity of the country will increase by 5,36,000 metric tonnes," said Project Director Rezaul Karim. 

Moreover, on the occasion of Bangabandhu's birth centenary, small portable silos, with a capacity of storing 70 litres of water and 55 kilograms of rice, will be distributed to three lakh underprivileged families in disaster-prone areas of the country under this project, he said.

In 2013, the World Bank funded the Directorate of Food to build eight steel silos with an estimated expenditure of Tk1,916 crores. The project was scheduled to be completed in June 2020. 

When the work started in 2017, the cost had increased a lot and the project got delayed further. Later, in coordination with the World Bank, a project cost of Tk3,538 crore was determined.