China funds Morobe’s cold storage facility

THE Morobe provincial government is now building a cold storage facility using a K10 million grant from China.
Located at Malahang industrial centre, the facility is being built by the Weihai International Economic and Technical Co-operation Co and is expectd to be completed by December for opening the following month.
The provincial government acquired the land from the Industrial Centres Development Co-operation (ICDC) after an initial payment of K42,000 last July.
Aside from a counterpart funding of K90,000, the provincial government also paid a further K307,780 last Thursday to ICDC on behalf of the Morobe Fisheries Management Authority (MFMA) which will be responsible for managing the facility.
The land on which the facility would rise was valued at K500,000 but was sold to the Morobe government for only K350,000.
MFMA chairman Royden Aigal had described the facility as “the base to develop the fast-growing fisheries industry” in PNG.
“All indicators are good … demand for fish has risen and so has the price,” Mr Aigal said, adding that interest from local fishermen to use the facility was growing.
He said the fisheries sector enjoyed good political support but lacked financial support.
WIETC, which employed 50 locals and 22 Chinese expatriates, said the work had progressed well despite the wet weather.