Jaffna to get six cool rooms before year end

Ridma DISSANAYAKE

All measures are in place to provide six cool rooms for the Jaffna district before the end of this year. The vehicles with mobile cool rooms will purchase fish from the fisheries community in Jaffna, said Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne.

The minister was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Fisheries Department's fisheries office in the Mullaitivu district recently.

Over Rs 28 million has been spent for the construction of the fisheries office for which financial assistance was provided by the Canadian government and implemented under the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project, which is aimed at upgrading fish landing centres in the Northern region.

"All measures are in place to provide mobile cool rooms for the fisheries industry in the Northern province. We also hope to build cool storages in Mannar and Jaffna districts,' the minister said.

"We all hope to build ice manufacturing companies in the North and East Provinces. Facilities in fisheries harbours, fish landing centres and anchor lodges are also to be developed with financial assistance from the Canadian government," he added.