DA to decide on fate of seafood plant
FACING the prospect of being another white elephant in the city, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is being pressed to decide how the Seafood Processing Plant in Dagupan will be operated in the years ahead after its viability has been questioned and the city government expressed interest in regaining control.
A top official of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), an attached agency of DA, was in Dagupan two weeks ago to gather information on the plant’s operations and problems and to meet with Mayor Benjamin Lim.
Atty. Asis Perez, BFAR director, will make his recommendation to Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala who will then make the decision on who or how the plant should be managed.
The Seafood Processing Plant, owned by Dagupan City, was built through a P100 million grant from the South Korean government secured in 2007 by former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. who was then congressman of the 4th District.
The BFAR is currently operating the plant by virtue of a resolution passed in June 2010 by the Dagupan City council under the previous administration.
Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the Dagupan-based National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC), which is under BFAR, was appointed interim head of the plant’s management committee.
Lim, who took over the reins of the city government in July 2010, wants the facility to be taken over by the Dagupan City government.
Rosario earlier admitted that the plant is facing problems in terms of lack of raw produce being brought in for processing.
POPULAR DECISION
Rosario said he expects the DA secretary to issue a “popular decision that will satisfy all sides”, referring to stakeholders, including the seafood producers who are now using of the facility.
The producers, in a recent forum at NIFTDC, said they want the facility to stay with the BFAR and make it accessible to all processors with corresponding fees and to use it as a training center on modern fish processing.
“Karamihan sa mga stakeholders gusto sa BFAR but of course we still have problems to overcome in running it,” Rosario said.
Another option is to hand over the plant to the Dagupan City government, which could possibly lease this to the private sector through public bidding.
The mayor said during the ‘Media in Action’ forum of the Pangasinan Press Club that it is likely that the plant would be managed jointly by the city government and BFAR.
Rosario said one other alternative is to undertake a public-private partnership (PPP), a scheme that the Aquino administration advocates.
Rosario further explained that the resolution of the problem of the plant in Dagupan will largely determine whether the Korean government will pursue a similar grant for a seafood processing plant in Iloilo City in the Visayas.
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