Million-dollar facility to house export goods

A 2.5 million dollar facility would soon be open at the Diamond Industrial Estate to house export produce from farmers here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to Manager of the National Properties Ltd. (NPL), Harold Dougan, the project, which is in its final preparatory phase, is expected to commence by July.

The NPL was forced to upgrade its exporting facility in order to keep up with international standards. Limited storage space had been a problem at the old facility located in Kingstown, on the same compound as the Marketing Corporation supermarket. {{more}}The NPL, which now has responsibility for the corporation, intends to soon relocate and restructure the produce division to help boost the export of local crops.

“From the site at Diamond there would be a lot more room for expansion,” Dougan explained to Searchlight Business.

The manager explained that the new facility would be better equipped to handle the proper storage of large quantities of goods, and that vacuum packing and grading systems would also be installed.

The NPL, which exports mainly to Trinidad and neighbouring Barbados, would, according to Dougan, be eyeing more extra-regional markets in North America and Europe, once the move to the new facility is made.

“We are currently exporting dasheen, breadfruit and hot peppers; all of those we can expand on, and we are hoping farmers would even increase their cassava and vegetable cultivation for export,” the manager said.

Apart from the regional export, the move would make the NPL better prepared to service the Grenadines where tourism is expanding faster than on the mainland.

The NPL manager also hinted that the Diamond Estate would soon be developed into an industrial site.

“The site can also be used for commercial purposes … we have some investors who are currently interested in setting up supermarkets, cinemas and other businesses which fall close to the national stadium site; there is room for both commercial and industrial expansion,” Dougan saidn