Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Jammu and Kashmir’s horticulture sector is once again seeking a 5,000 metric tonne controlled atmosphere cold store at Rambirpora in Anantnag, four years after an identical capacity facility at the same site was first put out to tender at an estimated cost of ₹26.71 crore. The fresh tender floated by the Jammu and Kashmir Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation seeks the design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of a new facility under what it describes as a greenfield project, at a revised estimated cost of ₹32.22 crore and a work period of 365 days. The latest corrigendum has pushed the bid submission deadline to September 25, with bids scheduled to be opened on September 28.
The description of the project as a new greenfield undertaking has raised questions among industry insiders, since JKHPMC had invited bids for a facility of the same capacity at the same location in July 2022, with a scope covering site development, demolition, foundation work and a pre engineered steel structure. That tender went through at least four deadline extensions before its final submission date in September 2022. Notably, the corporation’s own presentation to its Board that August had described Rambirpora as one of two planned 5,000 metric tonne cold stores, the other being located at Behrampora in Baramulla, alongside a separate 2,500 metric tonne facility planned at Dobagah in Sopore.
Publicly available tender records do not establish whether the 2022 contract was ever awarded, whether construction began, whether any public money was spent, or whether the project was cancelled or redesigned before resurfacing in its current form. The financial gap between the two tenders, roughly ₹5.51 crore or about 20.6 percent, cannot by itself explain what changed, since a fair comparison would require matching the technical specifications and market conditions of both bids.
For apple growers in south Kashmir, the stakes go beyond procurement paperwork. Controlled atmosphere storage extends the marketing window for fruit and reduces the pressure on growers to sell immediately after harvest, a facility that becomes more valuable the longer it takes to build. With the horticulture economy directly dependent on post harvest infrastructure, stakeholders have called on JKHPMC and the horticulture administration to clarify what became of the 2022 proposal before the region commits to another year long construction timeline for a project first promised in 2022.
