SMEDA to set up fruit, vegetable processing centres

Work on these facilities, costing Rs1.11b, will start in current fiscal year

LAHORE: The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) has planned to set up fruit, vegetable and condiment processing and mango pulping centres in Naushehro Feroze and Mirpurkhas, which will cost Rs535.106 million and Rs575.4 million respectively.

In this regard, Smeda CEO Sher Ayub has told Smeda’s provincial office in Sindh to start implementing these projects in the current financial year, says a press statement.



“The main objective of the schemes is to provide services for ripening, sterilisation, pulping, sorting, grading and packaging of fruits and vegetables,” Ayub said.

State-of-the-art agro-processing machinery costing around Rs623 million will be installed for the two facilities, which will enable stakeholders to increase their profits in domestic markets and gain access to international markets for value-added horticultural produce.

Meanwhile, Smeda Sindh Chief Mukesh Kumar reported to the CEO that Bahria Foundation and Smeda were working together to create better infrastructure facilities for promoting the horticulture sector in Sindh.

Bahria Foundation Deputy Managing Director Syed Imdad Imam Jafri, in a recent meeting, noted that Smeda had made a valuable contribution to the establishment of a modern cold storage by Bahria Foundation in Karachi, which cost around Rs350 million.



Jafri expressed deep interest in developing projects in the logistics, power, auto assembly and tourism sectors.

“Smeda will assist the Bahria Foundation in project viability assessment and developing projects for electric motorcycle assembly, wind power, cement production and tourism services in Tharparkar,” the provincial Smeda chief said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2017.

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