Chittagong, May 24 (UNB) - The government is building 91 silos, involving Tk  218 crore, at Halishahar in the port city to increase the country`s food storage capacity so that food security can be ensured.

Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque visited the site on Thursday to see for himself the progress of the work.

He said the 91 silos with a total storage capacity of over 84,000 tonnes food grain is being built on a land reclaimed from Bepza which once housed 94 modern Civil Supply Depots (CSD) with a total holding capacity of 85,000 tonnes.

The minister mentioned that the BNP-Jamaat government of 2001-2006 sold the 94 silos, built using Japanese technology, to Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (Bepza) at a nominal price at the fag end of its tenure in 2006.

Bepza demolished 59 out of the 94 food depots and the rest was being raged to build industries and other private business establishment there before the land was returned to the Food Ministry by Bepza following the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2009 to build the 91 new silos as part of a key policy of the present government to substantially increase food storage capacity in order to attain food security, the minister said.

The construction work on the new silos is expected to end by 2013.