New Delhi: The government has received an overwhelming response towards the technical bids for the development of wheat silos across the country, an official statement said on Tuesday.
The Department of Food & Public Distribution (DFPD) has proposed to develop a capacity of 111.125 LMT of silos at 249 locations across the country under the ‘Hub and Spoke Model’ under Design, Build, Fund, Own, and Transfer (DBFOT) model.
Hub and Spoke Model is a transportation system that consolidates the transportation assets from standalone locations referred to as “Spoke” to a central location named “Hub” for long-distance transportation.
A total of 38 bids have been received against 4 bundles comprising 14 locations in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, the statement said.
A total of 15 prospective parties have shown their interest and submitted their bids. Technical evaluation is expected to be completed in 3-4 weeks.
Tenders were floated for construction of 1st phase silos at 14 locations (10.125LMT) on DBFOT mode on April 26, 2022, and for 66 locations (24.75 LMT) on June 21, 2022.
‘Hubs have a dedicated railway siding and container depot facility while the transportation from Spoke to Hub is undertaken through road and from Hub to Hub vai rail. This model by harnessing the efficiency of a railway siding promotes cost efficiency through bulk storage and movement, reduces cost and time of handling and transportation, and simplifies operational complexities in addition to economic development, infrastructure development, and employment generation in the country,’ the statement said.
Besides, silos are declared as sub Mandi yards which bring ease of procurement for farmers and lead to a reduction in logistics costs.
