The Government of Dominica continues to invest heavily in the fisheries sector as rehabilitation of the Roseau Fisheries Complex continues.
The works are being done at a cost of twenty-seven million dollars and is funded by the Government of Japan.
Government committed to rehabilitate the fisheries complex after Hurricane Maria severely damaged the building in 2017.
Member of Parliament for the Roseau Central Constituency, Hon Melissa Skerrit and Minister of State in the Ministry of Blue and Green Economy, Agriculture and National Food Security, Hon Gregory Riviere toured the Roseau Fisheries Complex to get a first-hand view of the ongoing works.
Hon. Skerrit stated that she was excited about the project, noting that the rehabilitation of the fisheries complex is part of Government’ thrust towards food security and food safety.
“I am very excited about this. Of course it will be an instant facelift to the area, but more so it caters to the cries of our fishermen who suffered post Hurricane Maria. And with the massive undertaking that I see here, I can tell you that they will be very excited about this because it is an improvement in many different processing aspects in the fishing industry. And as we as a Government take a thrust towards food safety and food security, we too on the marine side have to do the same to secure our future with our fishing mechanisms, our production and our export market,” Hon. Skerrit stated.
The MP went to say that when complete, the facility will provide fisher folk of the area a safer and more convenient place to conduct their business.
“This is an exciting project for everyone. And it means for our fisher folk in the Roseau Central that no longer do you have to go on the street corners with your fish, because there will be an area that you can access daily, to sell your fish to the public, in a safe hygienic and much more comfortable environment. So I implore you to continue doing the good work that you are doing, and be patient.” the Roseau Central MP added.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Blue and Green Economy, Agriculture and National Food Security, Hon Gregory Riviere stated that he is pleased with the work of the contractors, noting that over sixty persons are currently employed on the project.
“I must say based on what I see, it is really looking good. I want to really thank the contractors and from the information that we have, we have a local sub-contractor who is doing extremely good work down here. The information we have gathered also explained that we are working two shifts with a total of over sixty employees on the project at this time,” Hon. Riviere explained.
The Minister detailed some of the features that will be incorporated into the rehabilitated building aimed at ensuring ease for all who will use it.
“When this project is completed we will see two refrigeration rooms with the capacity of about five tons each of ice. We also have a new and improved market that will be able to accommodate about fifteen or so fish vendors. We have an improved facility for our employees. We saw a huge conference room that can be used by the rest of the country. We also have a lab and storage capacity which will be part of the facility,” Hon. Riviere explained.
He went on to thank those involved in the project adding that the rehabilitation works is expected to be complete by August 2022.
“So we really want to thank the Japanese Government for coming onboard and assisting us at time. I think it’s a very exciting time at the Roseau Fisheries Complex and I really want to thank all those involved in getting us to this stage. We are about thirty-four percent complete and we are hoping that by the end of August, we will see the full completion of this facility,” Hon. Riviere added.