Saturday July 28, 2007
By Manjit Kaur
KUALA LUMPUR: Tesco hypermarket's state-of-the-art Fresh Food Distribution Centre in Perak hopes to create more farming and other related activities, the company said.
Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd corporate and legal affairs director Azlam Shah Alias said the centre would play the role of distributing fresh food products in a more efficient manner between suppliers and the hypermarket.
All this would take place in a completely chilled environment so the freshness of the products is maintained.
“Being the first such centre in the region, it is strategically located at the base of Cameron Highlands about 4km from Simpang Pulai, which is only about 30 minutes from Ipoh,” Azlam said.
“The area is surrounded by lowland farms and has easy access to the North-South Expressway.”
He said suppliers only had to bring their products to one location, where the items would then be consolidated and organised before being shipped out to the stores.
Set up in September last year, the 1,200-sq-metre centre cost Tesco RM60mil and became operational last month.
The centre is said to have created about 200 jobs.
With the centre, Tesco Malaysia – which is 30% owned by Sime Darby Bhd and 70% by British retailer Tesco – will play an important role in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) by helping farmers do business with it directly.
One of the objectives of the NCER, which covers Perlis, Kedah, Penang and northern Perak, is to promote commercial farming in partnership with local communities.
Azlam said Tesco was looking at cooperating with Sime Darby in creating opportunities in the NCER, especially in the lowland vegetables and sweet corn that Sime Darby was cultivating.
“It is still at preliminary stage because the products have not been produced yet. We are talking to them on becoming their retailers.
“We are finding out more information about the capacity, pricing, specifications and also on the production schedule,” he added. -- The Star.
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