10 Jan 2012

Vanuatu sets up fish processing plant in joint venture with China

4:16 pm on 10 January 2012

The governments of Vanuatu and China are set to build a fish processing plant in South East Efate.

A agreement was reached in 2004 to establish the factory in Black Sands village, however a land dispute and complaints about potential pollution halted the plans.

On Friday, the Vanuatu government paid customary land owners a lease of just over one million US dollars for 30 hectares of land in Forari.

The Minister of Lands, Steven Kalsakau says the land will accommodate an industrial zone, where manganese was once exploited before the independence of Vanuatu in 1980.

He says the project will see the construction of a large wharf and the relocation of a fuel depot from Port Vila.