Sri Lanka has attracted private sector investment to set up ice manufacturing plants in the island''s north and east where the fisheries industry is recovering after the end of a 30-year war and harvests increasing to supply domestic and export markets.
According to Board of Investment (BOI), the investment promotion agency in Sri Lanka, three ice manufacturing plants will be set up at Kalmunai in the east, Mannar in the northwest and Gurunagar in the northern Jaffna peninsula.
The half a million US dollar project is executed by the Lanka North Eastern Ice Company under the BOI’s North and East Development Program. This is one of the leading ice manufacturing companies in the island since 1980.
Ice plants are a critical need to develop the fishing industry with much of the harvest being transported to the rest of the island or exported. Fish production from the north and east is currently kept in a mobile ice plant container.
Sri Lankan authorities expect the fish production to be increased by 10% in the next few years following the resurrection of the northeast fishing industry.
According to the Central Bank, the present fish production contributed 1.2% to the GDP last year.
