ANGOLA – Angola based fishing company, Seatag Pesca Projecto, has announced that its new fish processing factory currently under construction is 70% complete.

Set to be finalized and commence operations in the first quarter of 2022, the unit will have a processing capacity of 60,000 tons of diverse fish.

In the first phase, according to reports by Angola Press, the factory will guarantee 900 job opportunities.

The administrator of the company, Alcatir Costa, revealed that the project which commenced in November 2019, had an initial value of US$78 million, an amount that rose to US$90 million due to economic headwinds and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fishing unit occupies an area of eight hectares and will have a pier for loading and unloading fish, workshops for repairing and maintaining boats, fuel stations, among other things.

The fish processing factory will cost a total of US$90m

This is the first private project of this size, which is being installed in the province of Zaire, bathed by the Atlantic Ocean, through the municipalities of Soyo, Nzeto and Tomboco.

The province of Zaire is known for its strong fishing potential and in April this year in the municipality of Nzeto, an Integrated Center for Support to Artisanal Fishing, with the capacity to process six tons of fish per day was inaugurated.

The project has a fish processing room, fish meal production unit, solar dryer, freezing tunnel with a capacity of 15 tons, a cold room and an ice factory.

It also has a shop selling fishing equipment, a naval mechanic workshop, an administrative area, a training room, a fuel pump, among other compartments.

The center will be sustainably operated as it is equipped with solar panels that will be majorly utilized in fish frying.

Valued at US$2.864 million and financed by the African Development Bank (ADB), the project was built in five years and created 92 direct jobs and 55 indirect ones.

Meanwhile, a wheat processing factory with a capacity of 120 tons/day operating at the Industrial Development Hub of Caála (Huambo), is set to be inaugurated in the next two months.

According to the reports, the unit has been operating on an experimental basis since last July and is aimed to encourage wheat production in the Center/South region of the country, in order to reduce levels of wheat flour imports.

The project has received financing from the Angola Development Bank (BDA), with already US$4 million already invested, out of the US$8 million foreseen until the conclusion of the industrial project.

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