K150mil fish port facility to rise in Morobe

THE South Pacific-PNG Sea Food Ltd in Port Moresby has made a K150 million investment on a commercial fish port facility at Labuta in Nawaeb, Morobe province.
The new project is a joint venture between the Morobe Fisheries Management Authority, the fisheries investment arm of the provincial government, and the indigenous landowners of Tikeleng and Apo villages.
To mark the partnership, two formal memorandums of understanding were signed last Friday between the parties.
The first MoU was between the two villages and the second was between the provincial government and the investor.
Present at the signing at the old Lae yacht club at Voco Point were Governor Luther Wenge, fisheries first secretary Felix Tapie, the investor’s managing director Wilson De Vera, Labuta LLG president Jack Kahuc and provincial fisheries advisor Wetti Zozingao.
The Morobe authority’s chairman Frank Pologo said the facility would serve as a major trading market for fish buyers and sellers.
He said the new facility was expected to attract all major companies and interest groups in the fish industry around the country.
Mr Pologo added that under the project, an ice-making plant and a cold storage facility would also be set up.
Mr Wenge has pledged K1.5 million as part of the provincial government’s equity share of the project.
He added that priority for sub-contracts and employment opportunities would be given to the landowners first.
Mr De Vera said the landowners had taken a bold step to be part of a venture that was envisioned to take the province into full industrialisation.
The construction phase of the project will take three years and would begin as soon as all contracts are finalised.