The Public Authority for Industry wants right to be given to it to develop Mina Abdullah site completely through the private sector and keeping in mind the organization of the storage activity in the country and providing goods.

In a letter addressed to the Council of Ministers regarding the authority’s vision to enhance and develop the food security system in the country, the PAI director general, Abdul Karim Taqi, stressed on the need to seek the assistance of specialists in organizing logistic work in order to facilitate the business activity, reports a local Arabic daily.

The official said the authority believes in the necessity of meeting the demand of food storage and pharmaceutical factories, whether to provide raw materials or final products, and that the authority has drawn up a study to develop the Kabd storage site, which has an area of 936,692,308 m2 for the purposes of food and drug storage.

However, the objection by the Environment Public Authority prevented the development of the site, and this prompted the Council of Ministers to issue its decision to assign the Municipality to allocate a site for food and drug storage for the benefit of the Public Authority for Industry in proportion to the needs of the state.

Taqi added that the authority has developed visions with regard to food and drug storage for local factories, which will inevitably contribute to strengthening the food security system in the country, noting that with regard to the proposed site in the Shaddiyah area, it is based on the decision of the previous Council of Ministers, regarding the allocation of a site for food and drug storage for the benefit of the authority and had addressed the Municipality about allocating a site commensurate with the state’s needs for food and drug security.

In its correspondence, the authority had suggested the site adjacent to the Shaddiyah Industrial City. To date, the site has not been allocated and the authority has not received any information in this regard from the Municipality.

And Taqi indicated that the site has the following features:

— Availability of energy sources, which reduces the cost of equipment and construction and contributes to rationalizing public spending.

— Food storage activities are compatible with the food industries sector in Al Shaddiyah Industrial City, which is directly adjacent to the proposed site.

— The relative location of the proposed site is by the main transportation axes, whether remote or railways, and near the urban area, which makes it a
strategic location that will achieve the strategic food security for the state.

He said that with regard to storage sites in the Mina Abdullah area, it was among the alternatives developed by the technical staff of the authority, to provide storage areas suitable for food and drug security in Mina Abdullah, because the area was originally intended for storage purposes, and is located on the main road axes, and its proximity to Shuaiba port makes it a strategic logistic area, but the inability of the authority to develop the infrastructure of the region as a whole due to its lack of subordination to it was the main obstacle, which prompted the authority to address the relevant state authorities to develop basic services in the area, but to no avail.

Taqi said that the commission recommends taking one of two things:

1 – Assigning the concerned authorities to implement the basic infrastructure of the Mina Abdullah area, which allows the possibility of allocating vacant plots for the establishment of warehouses suitable for food storage in accordance with international standards.

2 – Transfer the subordination of the Mina Abdullah area to the Public Authority for Industry, which will give it the right to fully develop the site through the private sector, and provide more than one million square meters suitable for food and drug storage and be in line with the country’s development plan by stimulating the private sector to lead the development of the country


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