Government has approved two projects in Korangi Fish Harbour (KoFH) for improvement of facilities to bring fish handling practices at par with European Union's hygiene standards.

These projects are "Establishment of Cold Storage & Freezing Tunnel at KoFH" and "Modification of Auction Hall at KoFH". Both the projects would be executed through complete foreign financing.

According to official documents available with Business Recorder, "Establishment of Cold Storage & Freezing Tunnel at KFH" project worth Rs170 million includes provision of chiller facility on the covered area of 700 square meters in stage 1 and provision of ice factory with building area of 1200 square meters during stage 1.

This project is in line with government directives for improvement of existing facilities to bring fish handling practices at par with the European Union (EU) hygiene standards.

Korangi Fish Harbour Authority (KoFHA) was established under Ordinance No. XVI of 1982 for making all arrangements for the planning, construction, operation, management and maintenance of KoFH for exploiting fishing resources beyond territorial water and to assist in removing congestion in Karachi Fish Harbour to Korangi Fish Harbour.

"Modification of existing auction hall" worth Rs94.50 million spanning over an area of 1100 sq. meters of auction hall will be modified to facilitate swift handling of landed fish catch in a temperature controlled environment thus ensuring the export of quality fish.

Under this project, a mobile crane with a pick and carry capacity of up to 3 tons and a boom rotation of 360 degrees is proposed to be procured.

It is imperative to build the new facilities at Korangi Fish Harbour. Besides, to make the harbour fully operational as per international standards and improve its revenue generation certain new development and modification works are essentially required. This is in line with government directives for improvement of existing facilities to bring fish handling practices at par with EU hygiene standards.

The projects have been designed in view of enhancing foreign exchange earnings by exporting quality fish to fetch better prices in international markets.

To meet the international trading obligations placed by the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is imperative to build the new facilities at the Korangi Fish Harbour.