Fenaka Corporation has stated that the issue with the genset at the L. Maamendhoo ice plant will be resolved and services will resume within two to three days.
Located in front of the Fenaka powerhouse in L. Maamendhoo, facing the harbour, this ice plant was initially established and operated by a private party before the government purchased it and handed it over to Fenaka to run. However, following Fenaka's decision to cease the development and operation of ice plants, work is currently underway to transfer this ice plant under MIFCO. While the process of handing over the ice plant to MIFCO is ongoing, Fenaka had previously stated that it would continue to operate the ice plant and supply ice to fishermen until the procedures are completed.
However, it has been a long time since the L. Maamendhoo ice plant has supplied ice to fishing vessels. This is due to both engines at the plant being broken. Furthermore, if the ice plant were to be operated at this time, electricity would have to be supplied from the Fenaka powerhouse. Coincidentally, one of the three engines at the Fenaka powerhouse is currently facing issues. Therefore, after supplying electricity to households, the power load cannot be sustained to operate the ice plant, making it impossible to supply electricity to run it.
Fishermen in the atoll, especially those from Maamendhoo, are very dissatisfied with this issue. The fishermen stated that it has been more than five months since the Maamendhoo ice plant last sold ice, which has now become a major hardship for them. The biggest issue, the fishermen note, is having to spend on fuel to travel to Horizon to buy ice.
"Now we have to travel to Horizon. They don't even issue ice on credit anymore. They only give two tonnes of ice per dhoni. It's really difficult," a fisherman said.
With these concerns from the fishermen, this newspaper has been trying since last Sunday to get a comment from Fenaka on the matter. Various members of the company's top management were contacted on different days. A response was finally received today.
In response to the questions sent by this newspaper regarding the matter, Fenaka stated that, as previously mentioned by the company's Managing Director Muaz Mohamed Rasheed, it has been arranged to continue providing ice plant services until the work of transferring the ice plants to MIFCO is completed.
"We note that Fenaka has not stopped ice plant services. However, due to an issue with the genset installed at the L. Maamendhoo ice plant, the service of that ice plant has been temporarily suspended at this time," Fenaka's response read.
Fenaka stated that the genset issue will be resolved within the next two to three days, electricity will be supplied to the ice plant, and services will resume.
The L. Maamendhoo ice plant has a capacity of 50 tonnes. If ice is produced by running two compressors simultaneously, one and a half tonnes of ice can be produced in an hour.
