DOHA: As part of its food security scheme, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce has awarded the first contract to a private company to set up a QR1.3bn poultry company
in Qatar.
The project was awarded to Dar Al Rayyan for Investment by the technical committee ‘for encouraging private sector to participate in food security projects’. A total of 34 companies took part in the bid from which 10 were shortlisted, said a Ministry statement yesterday.
The project aims to promote self sufficiency in poultry products by producing 40,000 tonnes of chicken and 7,500 tonnes of eggs annually. This will be enough to meet 38 per cent of the local demand for chicken. Currently, locally produced chicken meets only 7.7 per cent of the demand and when the new company becomes operational, this will go up to 46 percent, said the Ministry.
As for egg, the new company will raise the share of the local produce to 42 per cent, by adding 26.3 per cent to the existing 15.7 percent.
This is a major investment project and the first involving private sector in the food security programme, said the statement.
The committee also conducted a study to launch a similar project for dairy products involving the private sector. It aims to reduce dependence on imported milk by producing 20,000 tonnes of milk annually. The Peninsula
