Ministry of Economic Development has awarded Rainek India Limited to build cold storage facilities at the Felivaru Fisheries Complex in Lhaviayni Atoll and an ice plant in Gemanafushi in Gaafu Alifu Atoll.
The agreement for the venture was signed at a ceremony held during the ongoing visit of the Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The agreement was signed by the CEO of the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) Ismail Fauzee and the Managing Director of Rainek India Limited Sukumaran.
Rainek India won the bid for the USD23 million project to develop cold storage facilities in Felivaru Fisheries Complex, which will be carried out under the loan assistance of the EXIM Bank of India. The scope of the project to develop the largest cold storage facilities in the Maldives involves establishing a 4,000MT cold storage, along with a 200MT brine freezing facility. The project also involves the development of an 80MT refrigerated seawater facility, a 50MT block ice plant, and a 100MT fish processing plant. The facilities included in the project will be set up on 5.7h of land reclaimed by the government as part of the efforts to upgrade the Felivaru Fisheries Complex. MIFCO stated three harbours will be developed in Felivaru to facilitate an export jetty, a fish processing jetty, and a local jetty.
Furthermore, the government has decided to develop a 50MT ice plant and a 100MNT cold storage in Gemanafushi increasing the cold storage capacity of MIFCO by 48% and freezing capacity by 37%.