KARACHI (July 25 2006)  -  Mapak Edible Oils (Private) Ltd (MEO), a $14 million (Rs 840 million) Pak-Malaysia joint venture, will be commissioned at Port Qasim on July 25. At the same time, unveiling ceremony of the plaque for construction of another Pak-Malaysia joint venture, $16 million (Rs 960 million) Liquid Cargo Terminal (LCT) will also be held at the same venue.

Felda Westbury Qasim Enterprises (Pvt) Limited (FWQ) will be handling the LCT at Port Qasim. Both companies the MEO and FWQ are headed by Datuk Abdullah Yusoff as Chairman while Pakistan's leading industrialist M Basheer Janmohammed is the Deputy Chairman and Abdul Rasheed Janmohammed is Chief Executive.

MEO's modern edible oil refinery has been put up at Port Qasim's backup area in the port's operational zone. The Malaysian joint venture partners in this project are Felda Group, of Kuala Lumpur, headed by Tan Sri Dr Mohammad Yusof Noor (an autonomous Malaysian government body) and K L Kepong, Berhad, Ipoh, Malaysia.

The joint venture partners have rich experience of operating refineries in Malaysia. Pakistani partners are Westbury Group of companies, Karachi, headed by Basheer Janmohammed. The company has brought foreign direct investment (FDI) by creating value-addition in the edible oil sector in the country.

The refinery project has been instrumental in bringing modern technology of processing edible oil through continuous oil refining, termed as 'physical refining process' as compared to the process of conventional batch refining known as 'chemical refining', which has its own demerits, particularly higher process loss and higher input of utility consumption besides comparatively poor quality of the end product. Therefore, the 'physical refinery' project would add to the industrial development in the country. The establishment of this refinery would help local vanaspati/oil industry by making fresh and good quality refined palm oil locally available at people's doorsteps and would ultimately replace the import of RBD palm oil.

The project, based on latest technology, comprises 'physical refining' unit for processing 800 tons per day of crude palm oil and 200 tons per day of other crude soft oils (like canola/rape seed/soya bean/cottonseed oils etc). The company has acquired the most modern continuous refining plant from the internationally recognised manufacturers Alfa Laval. Based on installed capacity, 240,000 tons crude palm oil would be processed annually, besides other refined soft oils. The project has recently been completed and is being commissioned for commercial production of refined oils, particularly RBD palm oil.

In the field of liquid cargo terminal, FWQ was incorporated under joint venture agreement with Malaysia specifically for handling the project of LCT at Port Qasim. The Malaysian joint venture partners are Felda Palm Industries Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur (an autonomous public sector body), which has major equity share in the company. Here again, the local joint venture partners are Westbury Group of Companies, Karachi, headed by Basheer Janmohammed.

The company has been awarded the project of LCT to be constructed on BOT basis. The agreement for the project executed with Port Qasim Authority (PQA) is now being implemented. The civil contractor, STFA Marine Construction Co, of Turkey, has mobilised resources at the project site to commence construction work after the plaque unveiling ceremony.