Authority supports tuna terminal project with K5mil

THE tuna terminal project in East New Britain will soon be developed following a presentation of K5 million by National Fisheries Authority (NFA) to the provincial government yesterday.
The funding will be put towards the purchase of land owned by the Rabaul Shipping Company to have the project established.
Total cost of the land is K12 million of which the provincial administration had paid K2 million, K5 million was sourced from the public investment programme and the NFA had come in with its contribution to complete the purchase.
East New Britain deputy administrator Nicholas Larme said work had not started on the land because they were yet to acquire all the titles to the land.
“This is one of the projects that NFA is involved with the provincial governments across the country,” he said.
“It’s in line with our strategic plans that we have launched recently.”
The development of the fisheries terminal will ease the tuna transshipment burden allowing more time for fishing vessels to go out for fishing rather than waiting for their mother boats to offload tuna catches which is the current practice.
Most tuna transshipments in the province takes place in Simpson Harbour because there is no proper terminal.
As such NFA is taking the lead in developing a wharf and a proper terminal for tuna transshipment.
Larme said NFA and East New Britain would come up with a memorandum of understanding to implement the project.