FCI to call bids for building silos of 2 mn ton capacity

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) today said it will soon invite bids for building modern foodgrain storage facilities, 'silos', at 42 locations across the country.

In a pre-bidding meeting organised recently, FCI received "overwhelming" response from the private stakeholders for creation of modern storage silos, it said in a statement.

"The electronic bidding for building 42 silos is expected to be launched within two months," it said.

Of the silos to be built, 38 silos will be under the BOO (build, own and operate) variant of the public-private partnership (PPP), while the rest will be under the viability gap funding-based BOT (build, operate and transfer) model.

The silos will come up in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Gujarat.

The FCI, the centre's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, handles 77 million tonnes of foodgrains, while it has storage space of only about 74 million tonnes including covered and plinth (CAP).