Government had issued a tender to buy at least 0.2 million tonnes sugar from local market, and now it has extended the date of tender to 30th November. Issue of certifying the sugar to be bought from Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), however, is still unresolved.
Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has denied to certify quality of sugar to be procured by Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) from local mills. This is due to the fact that mills of PSMA were not certified by the authority.
As government itself has included sugar in list of compulsory items required to be certified from PSQCA through an act of Parliament, certification of the kitchen item before procurement has become a challenge for the concerned authorities, sources said.
According to sources, under the unresolved quality issue, concerned authorities which were to finalise the matter before 22nd November have extended date for tender issued by TCP to the end of this month. Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) was also likely to discuss the issue in its scheduled meeting on 28th November.
In reply to a recently sent letter from TCP, in which the corporation had sought PSQCA’s help in certifying quality of locally produced sugar, the authority has refuses to approve standard of the products saying that the mills were not certified. There was already a court’s stay over certification of quality and standards of sugar produced by PSMA as local sugar millers had gone to Supreme Court of Pakistan against PSQCA. According to sources, PSQCA in its letter sent to TCP, has made it clear that no organisation can produce listed item without getting license from the authority. Both products (sugar) and bags were needed to be certified by PSRCA.
Despite all arrangements made by ECC and TCP, to procure limited sugar from the local millers through the recently issued tender, government is yet to take final decision about procurement as there was confusion over quality issue. Since TCP has already made it mandatory in its documents that quality of the products should be as per standard of PSQCA, certification of kitchen items has become an issue for concerned authorities.
In recently issued Gallop Tender Notice of TCP for purchase of 200,000 MT sugar, it was mentioned that bids should be in sealed envelops for a minimum quantity of 5,000 MT and maximum of 20,000 MT white sugar packed in polypropylene woven sacks. This is to be done as per detailed specification and PSQCA approved standards as mentioned in tender documents.
However, sources said that as both PSQCA and TCP were government organisations, there should be a way out to resolve quality issue.
Until quality issues were resolved procurement of sugar from PSMA would be gross violation of government’s acts and also procurement rules of TCP. It is worth mentioning here that earlier PSMA had greatly appreciated government’s decision procure 200,000 tonnes sugar, from local millers as the move would indirectly help growers. The association had received bids of minimum price of Rs65 and maximum of Rs66 per kg in an open public tender.
