Following the Cabinet's decision to hand over K. Kanduoiygiri Fish Village, previously operated as a production facility by the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO), to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), MIFCO has announced that the operations carried out there will be temporarily relocated to Lh. Felivaru.
MIFCO stated that with the Cabinet's decision, the company has handed over Kanduoiygiri to MNDF, and the entire facility must be relocated before September 15. Consequently, the company is currently giving top priority to making arrangements to process lifestyle and yellowfin tuna products in Felivaru. MIFCO also noted that although the operations of the Kanduoiygiri facility are temporarily halted, arrangements are being made to carry out these operations in Felivaru, which will take some time.
"Suddenly relocating production is a huge challenge for us. However, until a suitable location is secured in Hulhumale, we have to relocate to Felivaru for now. This will also incur costs. The demand for lifestyle and yellowfin tuna products is very high, and this will also lead to immense public complaints," MIFCO said.
MIFCO stated that although this is a temporary solution, the company aims to utilize available investment opportunities to secure suitable land in Hulhumale as soon as possible and resume these services on a large scale.
On the 7th of this month, the President's Office instructed both MIFCO and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to proceed with discussions with relevant authorities to allocate suitable land by HDC for the operations MIFCO was conducting in Kanduoiygiri. While MIFCO has initiated discussions with HDC, the company's management and senior MNDF officials visited Kanduoiygiri on Thursday and conducted a site inspection.
The 4-hectare Kanduoiygiri is currently the main hub for lifestyle products produced by MIFCO. This includes ready-made or fresh, instantly consumable products. The facility also provided services to fishermen. These included weighing skipjack and yellowfin tuna, packaging fish, producing lifestyle products, and supplying ice to fishermen. The packaging of skipjack and yellowfin tuna loins was also carried out in Kanduoiygiri.
MIFCO has spent USD 5 million under the Saudi loan fund for the harbour project in Kanduoiygiri. In addition to the Saudi fund, an USD 8 million investment plan under the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) fund is planned for the Kanduoiygiri facility. MIFCO states that securing land in Hulhumale at the earliest opportunity to proceed with this investment is a task that must be done with special importance.
