Ministry of Finance has revealed that the storage capacity of the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company Limited (MIFCO) has been increased from 1,727MT to 5,027MT.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of Jazeera 103, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer explained the improvements in the fish storage capacity of vessels. He said the storage capacity of vessels was only 1.727MT initially. He, however, said the capacity had been increased by 167% by the end of last year. As such, he said capacity increased to 5,027MT with the newly launched fish processing vessel Jazeera 103.
Additionally, Minister Ameer said the government has also increased the freezing capacity of MIFCO vessels. He said that the freezing capacity in 2018 was only 80MT, adding the fish processing capacity of MIFCO vessels has been increased to 290MT with the newly commissioned vessel.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MIFCO Ismail Fauzi said the government has launched major projects to strengthen the management of MIFCO and provide modern facilities to fishermen. He said the government has decided to set up an additional 4,000MT of cold storage in addition to the existing 2,000MT of cold storage space in Koodoo. He also mentioned that the expansion and renovation of the harbour in Koodoo are underway.
MIFCO is making efforts to increase its capacity by acquiring more fish processing vessels and establishing more fish processing facilities in different parts of the country.