Minister of Works and Municipalities Affairs: Achievement- From the settlement of lands designated for cultivation in Ras Hayyan

The Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, His Excellency Engineer Essam bin Abdullah Khalaf, revealed the settlement of ??? Of the lands allocated for investment in the field of fish farming in the Ras Hayyan area, in preparation for inviting investors to launch projects related to raising fingerlings to reach the commercial volume and supply local markets, which will contribute to alleviating pressure on fisheries and reducing the value of fish consumed by citizens in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

This came during an inspection visit by Minister Khalaf, accompanied by the Undersecretary for Agriculture and Marine Resources, Dr. Nabil Abu Al-Fath, and Director of the Road Maintenance Department at Works Badr Al-Alawi, in order to see the progress of work in the project to settle the lands allocated for investment in the field of fish farming in the Ras Hayyan area, where Khalaf was briefed on the plans Ambitious productivity in partnership with the private sector to raise production levels of local fish fingerlings.

The minister pointed out the importance of benefiting from the marine areas designated for farming in the Ghamis area, southeast of Bahrain, in the period following the summer season, in order to provide an opportunity to reduce costs for investors and give a wide environmental space to support fish growth faster in the natural marine environment.

Khalaf explained, "The ministry, represented by the agriculture and marine resources sector, is continuing its efforts to strengthen partnership with the private sector in the field of fish farming, in an effort to raise the production capacity of the National Center for Mariculture in Ras Hayyan."

He also followed up the efforts made to prepare the lands allocated to the private sector, and the minister's visit included following up on the launch of a national training building on marine aquaculture to be located in the National Center for Mariculture, and they discussed the absorptive capacity of the training building and the required services, in addition to discussing the benefit of local and external expertise in supporting this orientation.

The minister indicated that this step comes as a continuation of the success achieved by the program to qualify and train a number of Bahraini cadres on fish farming, which was established by the ministry in cooperation with the Labor Fund "Tamkeen", and aimed at training 15 Bahrainis in the field of cultivating local fish inside and outside the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Khalaf stressed that the fish farming sector "constitutes an important axis within the ministry's strategy, which comes in support of the esteemed government's directions to achieve food security for the Kingdom of Bahrain, especially since the fisheries sector is an important pillar within the food sources for citizens and residents in the Kingdom."

Khalaf stressed "continuing efforts to attract more private sector companies to launch investment projects that would maximize local production of fish in a manner that would achieve self-sufficiency in the Kingdom."

For his part, the Undersecretary for the Agricultural Sector and Marine Wealth, Dr. Nabil Abu Al-Fath, emphasized the inclusion of the private sector as a main partner in fish farming projects and the provision of lands to contribute in this aspect to the benefit and development of the food economy.

He added, "One of the most important tasks that we are working on is the introduction of highly qualified professional elements that contribute to the development of the fish farming sector."

Abul-Fath also stressed that the agency has made important strides in the field of research related to fodder, which also contributes to the development and development of fish farming.