More than 70 per cent of the groceries in the UAE caapital and its suburbs have joined the Baqala project initiated by the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) to reform the grocery sector through a set of stringent new health and safety rules.

 

The Committee responsible for reorganizing the retail sector (baqala or groceries) in Abu Dhabi city and its suburbs revealed that 71 per cent of all groceries eligible for implementing the new standards and specifications have joined the project for grocery reforms. 

 

The Committee's estimate was based on the data available at the Technical Information Centre for the project. 

 

Mohamed Jalal Al Rayssi, the official spokesperson for the committee, said the data collected in the middle of April concluded that 52 per cent of the grocery space (the total space for the groceries eligible for the new system) has already been renovated from 50 per cent to 100 per cent as per the new standards and specifications and well on the way to resume full operations. 

 

The remaining 48 per cent is in different stages of the process for joining the project, to be completed before the deadline expires on June 30, said Al Rayssi.

 

He called upon the groceries to complete the renovation process before the June 30 deadline in order to avoid punitive measures.

 

Al Rayssi said the residential areas of Abu Dhabi and its suburbs had seen a gradual increase in the number of grocery stores that have conformed to the new standards and specifications, meeting the needs of the consumers to a large extent.

 

According to him, the committee members will pay field visits to the newly-renovated groceries accompanied by representatives from the media in the near future in order to brief them on the implementation of the project and the qualitative change it has occasioned in the retail sector. 

 

Al Rayssi said the Baqala project was in tune with the Abu Dhabi's Development Vision for 2030 and was aimed at achieving the goals of environmental sustainability, health and safety in the retail sector.-TradeArabia News Service