Qatar Islamic Bank has signed a 1.6-billion Qatari riyal (SR1.65 billion) funding deal with local contractor Al Jaber Engineering to finance a large food security facility at the new Hamad Port.
The new food security facility is being built on a 530,000-square-meter site and contains facilities that can be used for storing, processing and manufacturing of various foods, including rice, raw sugar and edible oils.
The complex will house rice silos, oil storage tanks and associated infrastructure such as conveyor systems, processing and warehousing space. There will also be a recycling facility that will help to turn waste products from basic commodity processing into animal feed.
Doha’s new port has been ramping up throughput as the country tries to mitigate the impact of the embargo imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in June.
The anti-terror quartet has accused Qatar of supporting and financing terror groups and attempting to destabilize the region, which was denied by the Doha government.
Qatar has been resetting its supply chains through ports in Oman, which has remained neutral in the crisis, with Iran and Turkey becoming the two major suppliers of Doha’s food imports.
Qatar’s imports slumped 40 percent to 5.9 billion riyals in June after the closure of the Saudi land border, where most of its staple supplies pass through.

Source: Arab News