The Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture, Wallace Cosgrow, has said the recently opened ice plant at the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) premises is functioning well and will contribute significantly towards the demand for ice in the country. The new ice plant is producing a volume of ten tonnes of ice per day.
He added the ice plant will meet, to a certain extent, the demand for this commodity when its production is combined with those of the Oceana Fisheries, Sea Harvest and Providence plants.
The minister said this after visiting the SFA plant yesterday morning to see for himself how it is functioning.
He was accompanied on the visit by officials from his ministry and from SFA. Fishermen were already getting their supplies of ice for their fishing trips yesterday when the minister arrived on the scene.
“My visit to the ice plant is to see how it is, how it is functioning. From what I’ve seen it is working well,” said the minister.
Responding to certain issues, both at the plant itself and raised by fishermen like the pool of water on the ground at the plant and also where fishermen are not sheltered from either the rain or sun when getting their ice, Minister Cosgrow said these will be looked into.
“What is most important is to get the plant up and running. When it started functioning we found certain issues that we need to adjust like getting rid of the pool of water on the ground in front of the plant, enlarge the roof and create an easier way to ease the removal of ice from the plant by the fishermen so they need not go inside to have this done,” he said, adding these are just some fine tunings that need to be done.
The important thing, he remarked, is that the machine is producing 10 tonnes of ice per day and will greatly ease the situation.
Regarding the fishermen’s opinion that the new ice machine will still not be enough, Minister Cosgrow acknowledged their view but stressed there will always be demands due to more people entering the business, lots of new and larger boats than before.
“As I said before, this is a beginning and the government has invited the private sector to enter the ice making industry,” said the minister, adding there are opportunities in such a business.
He said some private businesses have already expressed interest but he cautioned this is not something that just happens overnight.
He also mentioned the photovoltaic scheme announced by the president recently for those interested in investing in this business with the aim of reducing their electricity cost.
Source : Seychelles NATION