New K85 million tuna facility to open

 MAJESTIC Seafood’s new K85 million tuna processing facility at Malahang in Lae will be commissioned next month by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

Plant manager Ronel Paredes put June 10 as the official opening date after being given the approval by the Morobe building board’s senior building inspector Jacob Kumsoro yesterday.

Kumsoro said the facility had met all safety, sanitation and waste disposal requirements.

Engineering manager Edwin Mendoza said the Malahang cannery was a state of the art tuna processing facility and boasted the most advanced waste disposal management system.  

He said waste from the processing plant went through a vigorous water treatment regime closely monitored by a computerised system.

“The water that will be released from the treatment wells will be completely safe and odorless,”Mendoza said. 

Plant manager Paredes said at optimal production the facility would employ 2,000 workers and process 350 tonnes of fresh tuna making it the largest in the country.

That volume is eight times bigger than sister company Frabelle’s 40-tonne production and twice more than Madang-based RD Tuna cannery’s 150-tonne production.

Paredes said they were awaiting approval from the National Fisheries Authority before they secured the lucrative tuna markets in the European Union.