Karachi, Pakistan, December 20, 2010
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced today it will provide advisory services to help Government of Sindh in Pakistan attract private investment to build new grain storage facilities aimed at safeguarding future food security.
IFC will advise the government on establishing public-private partnerships (PPPs) to build multigrain storage facilities in the province capable of holding up to 500,000 metric tons, which will improve the quality of stored crops, and reduce wasteful losses.
IFC will help Sindh identify private sector investors to finance, design, build, operate, and maintain storage facilities through a transparent and competitive bidding process. Sindh is Pakistan’s second largest wheat producing province, accounting for around 16 percent of the country’s wheat grain – a staple crop vital for food security.
Naveed Kamran Baloch,
Secretary of the Government of Sindh Food Department,
said, “This project is a key part of the government's strategy to encourage private investment in developing grain storage infrastructure in Sindh. It will help enhance food security and provide our farmers with modern storage facilities. We hope it will also lead to improved access to markets and financing.”
Nadeem Siddiqui, IFC Chief Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa and Country Representative for Pakistan, said, “IFC is helping Pakistan enhance its grain storage capacity by helping mobilize the private sector to improve agribusiness-related infrastructure in Pakistan. IFC is also assisting the government in its work to liberalize and develop the sector.”
This initiative is timely given the flood crisis that has caused widespread devastation in Pakistan and is the second such project IFC has recently signed in the country. The government of Sindh has made building modern grain storage infrastructure a priority because improving this infrastructure is vital to safeguarding future strategic grain reserves and ensuring food security for poor and vulnerable communities.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives—by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and provide essential services, mobilizing capital from others, and delivering advisory and risk-management services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
