Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company Limited (MIFCO) has temporarily relocated its operations in Kanduoiy-giri Island to Felivaru Island, following the cabinets decision to handover the island to Maldives National Defese Force (MNDF). The management and senior officials of MIFCO and MNDF on Thursday, visited Kanduoiy-giri to conduct a site operation.
The Cabinet of Ministers made the decision that the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) should allocate a suitable land from Hulhumale’ for MIFCO to carry out its Kanduoiy-giri operations. MIFCO notes that discussions on the acquisition of a suitable land is ongoing with HDC.
MIFCO states that the company aims to take advantage of the investment opportunities available and restore the services on a large scale by acquiring suitable land in Hulhumale’ as soon as possible. It notes that a land is important to make use of the planned investment of USD eight million under the Saudi fund and the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) fund.
While MIFCO has handed over Kanduoiy-giri to MNDF, the company must move the whole facility out of the island by September 15. As such, the company has started work to produce its lifestyle products at the Felivaru complex, as a temporary fix.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources Ahmed Shiyam stated that even though Kanduoiy-giri was brought to operations to solve the challenges faced by the fishing industry, a desirable solution to these challenges has not been found despite long-term efforts.
Kanduoiy-giri was the hub of MIFCO's lifestyle products, such as pre-made food made available by the company. The island was also used to weigh yellowfin tunas and skipjack tunas caught by the fishermen. MIFCO also provided ice to the fishermen from the island.