Who is the Bread Silo Director?
My name is Engineer Ghulam Farouq Nabizada. I am from Parwan province, I was
born in a very poor family. But I was lucky and got a good education. I got my
Masters in mine exploitation from Kabul University. I have 6 sons and 4
daughters.
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| Current Director of Silo |
In 2000 I was manufacturing alcohol in Pul-e Charkhi, working as planning
director. As I was a machinery expert I was sent to the Silo to help them. The
Silo’s machines were completely destroyed, because the area was on the
frontline for five years. During the war many people were starving in this
country. Some of the workers, who had bigger families, used to hide bread in
their working suits. The president would see them, but he used to turn his face
pretending that he hasn’t seen anything. But the next day he would stop them
and say; “Son I saw you yesterday, hiding bread. Don’t do it otherwise I will
punish you.”
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| Silo Building |
I designed a plan to reconstruct and reactivate the Silo. After that the
Ministry of Light Industries made me Technical Vice President. I have been
working at this post since then.
When I came to the Silo it wasn’t able to bake bread or store wheat, but after a while we activated the bakeries. We gave our first bakery lease to a private company, and from the profits we reconstructed other parts of the Silo.
When I came to the Silo it wasn’t able to bake bread or store wheat, but after a while we activated the bakeries. We gave our first bakery lease to a private company, and from the profits we reconstructed other parts of the Silo.
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| Worker of Silo |
The Silo has been baking the famous ‘Nan-e Silo’ for 57 years. The Kabul
Silo has the capacity to store 50,000 tons of wheat. The Silo was one the most
important parts of our economy until 1992. We used to feed many ministries, and
other governmental organizations. We used to mill 400 tons of wheat through two
mills every 24 hours. We produced around 110 tons of baked breads, cookies, and
noodles. Every soldier was given 50 Kg of flour monthly, through a coupon
service.
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| Damage Machinery at Silo |
The Central Silo has two mills, two bakeries and one huge warehouse. One of
the bakeries is contracted to a private company. The other bakery is also
working, but not privatized.
The war destroyed the Silo completely, the bakeries, the warehouse, the
mills, the workshops. The new government hasn’t spent a penny on the Silo. They
told us that the Silo will be reconstructed very soon, almost ten years passed,
but nothing happened.
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| Bakers at Silo Center |
We face many challenges, but we still can compete with the private sector.
Despite the fact our machinery is 57 years old, our personnel are very
experienced, so they repaired the machines themselves and now we are ready to
compete with the private sector. Our customers, whether be government or
private sector, tell us what size and what quality they want their wheat to be
milled. Before we used to mill just one sort of wheat, but now we can produce
all different sorts.
We also serve the Emergency Committee. When they need a warehouse, they
bring their wheat or flour, and we store it for them. These warehouses are very
important in our country, because when something happens like an earthquake,
volcano, flood, and storm and so on, we are ready to help.
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| Bullets shoots are visible on this historic building |
We are not against privatization, if the contractor is an honest person it
is very good. We have had meetings with many Afghan businessmen that wanted to
take over the Silo, but they wanted to change its name and use. We disagreed,
and said no, you have to keep the Silo’s identity.
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| This Historic Building need our and Govt attention in order to minimize the high price of bread and poverty in Afghanistan |
We really need a big Silo in the city, because the international forces
import hundreds of tons of bread from Dubai. Why shouldn’t we bake the same
bread with the same standards and quality in this country? So if the Silo is
equipped with advanced machinery we can provide our national and international
customers with the best quality bread and cheaper than they import it.
These all information are property of http://www.kabulatwork.tv...only few of the photos are my own.
