The Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, inaugurated, this afternoon, the new warehouse of the State Trading Corporation (STC), in Mer Rouge. The building is named after the 1982 Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Abdool Kader Bayat, as a tribute to his immense contribution as regards the creation of the STC.
The inauguration coincided with the 40th anniversary of the STC. The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism, Mr Louis Steven Obeegadoo; the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Alan Ganoo; the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Protection, Minister of Labour, Human Resource Development and Training, Mr Soodesh Satkam Callichurn; the Chairperson of the STC, Dr Ramchandra Bheenick; and other personalities were present at the ceremony.
In his address, the Prime Minister recalled that the STC was set up in 1982 to be the trading arm of the Government and was entrusted with the responsibility of sourcing and importing selected essential commodities, namely, all petroleum products, Liquefied Petroleum Gas, wheat flour, Basmati and Non-Basmati Rice. He lauded the great contribution of late Mr Kader Bayat as regards the setting up of the STC in order to regulate prices of commodities and relieve the population through the delivery of quality strategic products at affordable prices.
As regards the warehouse, Mr Jugnauth indicated that it was built with a vision to ensure improvement in the way commodities were imported and stocked. “The provision of modern equipment and above all, a better and safer environment have also been provided for the benefit of STC’s workers,” he added.
Furthermore, he underlined that the Corporation had increased its capacity and quality of storage and, in its 40 years of existence, had come a long way in fulfilling its mission, taking also the responsibility of importing essential products. On this score, the Prime Minister urged the population to take note of the efforts and commitment of the Government to assist them financially through subsidies on these commodities.
As regards public-private partnership, the Prime Minister recalled that the Mer Rouge Oil Storage Terminal became operational recently as a joint partnership among the following companies: Indian Oil, Vivo Energy, Total Mauritius, Engen Mauritius and the State Trading Corporation. Five Storage Terminals were thus constructed as there was the need to increase the storage capacity of petroleum products for the country and maintain a comfortable leeway of several days of reserve. “Previously, we had a capacity for only a few days of use. Now, it has been extended to a period of 30-days reserve for petrol and 17-days for diesel,” he pointed out.
For his part, Minister Callichurn indicated that the warehouse was built so as to provide the right conditions for storage of products such as rice and flour as well as to ensure that the products brought to the population comply with appropriate sanitary protocols. In addition, he underlined that the warehouse was upgraded to improve security to prevent fire disasters and was equipped with camera surveillance. “The system is also computerised to provide better control of stock levels in real time and there is a two-way bridge to facilitate vehicle traffic,” said Mr Callichurn.
The Commerce Minister emphasised that as the trading arm of the Government, it was important that the STC offered new strategic products in addition to traditional products. In this context, he announced that new imports would soon include food and non-food products such as cement, cooking oil and milk powder so as to ensure that consumers benefitted from quality products at reasonable prices.
In the same vein, the Minister also informed that the STC launched an international tender for the supply of some 50,000 metric tons of cement for the period from May to September 2022, and another international tender for a supply of 200 metric tons of cooking oil for the period from April to June 2022.
As for Mr Bheenick, he highlighted that the STC was a strong organisation which had a major role to play in helping the country adapt to the new normal in this COVID-19 pandemic era. “The STC,” he underlined, “is moving towards more competitive procedures for the purchase of more environmentally friendly petroleum products, in particular now that the storage of imported products by the STC has greatly improved.”
