JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - Blackspace Company, a Russian company, said it will invest and build cold storage facilities, ice factories and fishery product processing plants on Natuna Island, Riau Islands province, the company owner Alexander Isaev said in a press statement.
Alexander Isaev made the statement during a meeting with a delegation of the House of Representatives and a number of representatives from the Indonesian Ministries in Moscow last week.
Isaev added that Blackspace plans to begin working on several projects in the field of agriculture in Indonesia, including the production of a number of leading commodities, such as palm oil and rubber.
Furthermore the company plans to build a Control Situation Center which will help identify fire in early stages for more efficient fight against forest and peat fires, alongside with fighting against illegal fishing.
The construction of the above infrastructure facilities is a Russians’ attempt to support the development of integrated fishery management centers under Indonesian government’s policy. The plan has been also discussed by President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti with Russian counterparts on a sideline of ASEAN-Russia Summit in Sochi in May, 2016.
According to the official information, Blackspace has developed a number of projects in Indonesia since August of 2015. Currently Blackspace carries a coal mining project in Central Kalimantan, the construction of 60 nickel smelters in South-East Sulawesi, as well as smelters for the manganese production on Timor island and alumina project in West Kalimantan.
In addition, the company started construction of the railway in Central Kalimantan with a total length of 500 kilometers to meet the transportation and logistics demands of the company, in particular for coal transporting from the mine site to the port.
The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries plans to promote the development of fishery centers on the Natuna Island actively.
The new united center of fishing on the Natuna Island gives an opportunity to increase the volume of industrial fishing from 9.3 percent up to 40 percent of the total fish stocks volume of Indonesia. Fish storages (auctions) which are placed in Jakarta, Pontianak, Belawan and Batam will be moved to Natuna integrated fishery center.
Later on, the fishermen from the northern coast will also be transferred to resume fish in Natuna. Housing would be provided to facilitate fishermen who are willing to stay in Natuna.
«At the moment all the fish from there are being moved to Java. Later, when the cooling complex is ready, all the fish will be stored here,” said Susi.
The need for fish storage and processing plants is on the rise because fish production volumes are also rising steadily with the success of the policy introduced by Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti to combat illegal fishing. (*)