Qatar Chamber First Vice-Chairman Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Towar Al Kuwari speaking to The Peninsula. Pic: Salim Matramkot/ The Peninsula
Qatar’s flagship food sustainability programme, the QR1.6bn Hamad Port Food Security Project, is now 70 percent complete and will be fully operational within a year, a Qatar Chamber (QC) official has said.
The mammoth food security project not only seeks to address food sufficiency in the country, but also aims to put Qatar on the map as a strong food exporting hub.
“About 70 percent of the project is done. It will be a huge storage of food and will also include some downstream industries. It is now in the final stage of construction. And it will take a year before it becomes operational. It will be run through a public-private partnership (PPP),” QC First Vice Chairman Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Towar Al Kuwari told The Peninsula on the sidelines of an event in Doha recently.
Spread over a 530,000 square metre land, the project consists of specialised facilities for the processing, manufacturing, and refining of rice, raw sugar, and edible oils. The products will be available for local, regional, and global use.
The amount of production of the factories is said to be enough for three million people, and the stock allows for two and a half years as a strategic stock in the country, and it can be re-exported abroad.
Al Kuwari has earlier said the project will locally secure food for everyone in Qatar and then will export to different foreign markets; thereby helping the region with its growing population as well.
The project, which was launched in 2017, was also designed to include a specialised facility for the recycling of waste products arising from the processing of basic commodities to create regulatory compliant animal feed and food stocks.
Those facilities will operate as a fully functional standalone terminal, while 500 metres of the wharf of the Hamad Port will be dedicated for the berthing and discharging of the ships for the new project.
As per agreement, the food security facilities and warehouses are being built and equipped in collaboration with international consultants, observing best international practices and standards for manufacturing. There will also be work with global foodstuff processing and storage companies.
The New Port Project (NPP) Steering Committee under the Ministry of Transport and Communication (MoTC) has previously awarded the design and construction of the project to Qatar-based AlJaber Engineering.
The food security project has also partnered with a leading global Swiss-German food industries company, a Germany-based company known to be the world’s top in designing and constructing raw sugar plants, sugar packaging and storage, as well as with a leading global Italian company specialised in the design and supply of equipment and plants for oils and fats industry.
