The state government has resumed the process of reviving its eight closed sugar mills under the Bihar State Sugar Corporation (BSGC), hoping that the prospective bidders would file their papers. "It is the fifth bid that has been floated for the eight sugar mills concerned. We are extremely hopeful that the bidders would turn up and make most of the opportunity provided to establish new sugar mills or any other factory they deem fit to bring up on the premises that they secure through the bid," said cane minister Khursheed alias Firoze Ahmad. "The prospective investors can bid for establishing sugar mills or any other industry of their choice on the premises whose lease are given to them. There was no confusion on that in the past, nor is it this time. What has changed this time is that there are signs of active investor interest with regard to the eight sugar mills," the minister added. The lease to be given is for 60 years and would be renewed for the next 30 years. The last date for the filing of the bidding papers is July 21. The eight mills concerned are Hathua (with its distillery), Warsaliganj, Banmankhi, Goraul, Guraru, New Siwan, Siwan and Lohat. Of them, Warsaliganj, Banmankhi, Hathua and Lohat mills are big ones. The area of the land under the Guraru, Goraul, Siwan and New Siwan mills is comparatively small.
Khursheed said two parties from Mumbai showed active interest two months back and that had been happening at the CM level. "The investors feel that the state has stable government and the atmosphere in the state is also good. Moreover, the government has guaranteed all support to the investors," Khursheed added.
Overall, the state had 15 closed sugar mills under the sugar corporation and 11 others in the private sector which are in operation. Of the 15, Sugauli, Lauria, Rayyam, Sikri, Motipur, Bihta and Samastipur mills have already been given to equal number of investors on lease, beginning 2009.
Meanwhile, during 2015-16, cane was cultivated in around 2.90 lakh hectare area producing around 167 lakh metric tonne of sugar cane, and the amount of sugar produced was around 6.0 lakh metric tonne.
What, however, is considered to be a matter of cheer regarding the state's sugar industry is that the percentage of average sugar recovery from crushed cane increased from 9.16% in 2014-15 to 10.0 in the 2015-16 fiscal.