By Satish Kanady
DOHA: The State-supported Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP) is looking for a private or private-public partnership to develop a massive agro-industrial park in Qatar.
The project, which would emerge as a designated area for country’s food processing industry, will be located at a strategic area as it wants to take advantage of Qatar’s fast expanding transport infrastructure.
“As QNFSP is a policy decision body, we will not be directly involved in the project. Our idea is to help develop the project with the support of private entities like Qatar Chamber and discussions are going on,” sources told The Peninsula yesterday.
The park, arguably the first of its kind in the region, will take full advantage of Qatar’s emerging transport infrastructure, including the New Doha Port, the upcoming rail network that will link the GCC countries, and the bridge being built between Qatar and Bahrain.
The upcoming infrastructure will permit Qatar to export its goods to neighbouring countries and internationally.
The QNFSP has embarked on an ambitious plan to boost Qatar’s domestic output of agricultural products to 40-60 percent of its actual demand from the existing 8 percent.
QNFSP has already presented its national plan to the ‘higher authorities’.
The QNFSP is exploring the scale and potential applications the park will have, including sources of raw materials and potential markets for its processed products.
It is also looking at identifying potential processing industries where feasibility studies would be warranted.
The QNFSP, which is in search of potential public-private partnership opportunities, is also working on appropriate technologies for the successful launch of the project and analysing the current and future demand for food processing in the country.
Sources said it is also working on the estimate of potential costs of establishing institutional arrangements and industry development initiatives.
Qatar maintains strategic food reserves for wheat, rice, sugar, oil, and milk.
It also stores barley and wheat barn as part of its strategic reserves for animal feed stock.
With the establishment of the park, it will be necessary to expand storage facilities to ensure the constant supply of raw materials to the processing industry.
The QNFSP is not only looking at ways of improving Qatar’s supply chain for imported goods, but also at different levels of infrastructure which will be needed to support the food processing industry within the park.
The Peninsula
