Balochistan minister inaugurates date processing plant
Balochistan Finance Minister Zahoor Buledi inaugurated a date processing plant to preserve the fruit in Josak area of Kech district on Sunday.
Addressing the ceremony, the provincial minister said date is an important product in Kech and Panjgur districts and Makran division. But for the last many years most of the palm production was affected due to the absence of factories and cold storages in the province.
“Balochistan government has solved an old issue of landlords through establishing the plant for cold storage in Turbat,” said Buledi, adding the plant would initially run with the help of private sector.
In the first phase, the provincial government has decided to give the plant on rent for three years, said the provincial minister. The annual production of dates in Kech district is 140,000 metric tonnes and its production in Panjgur district is close to 97,000 metric tonnes while the storage capacity of the plant is 1,000 metric tonnes.
The provincial minister expressed hope the landlords would have access to foreign markets and other parts of the country to get fair price of the fruit after the establishment of the plant. He further added public projects run successfully with the cooperation of government and private sectors.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 10th, 2020.