PASIR PUTEH, Feb 13 — A sardine processing plant will be built in Tok Bali with a RM16 million allocation and the move will help boost development in the area, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries II, Datuk Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh.

He said the allocation would also be used to purchase fishing vessels adding that previously some of the sardines would be stored at Tok Bali port before being exported to Thailand to be processed.

"So with a sardine factory of our own, this will help improve the socio-economy of fishermen here.

"The factory will be built near an ice manufacturing plant which is expected to operate soon,” he told reporters after a working visit to the MyKomuniti Perikanan (MyKp) base in Kampung Pachakan near Semerak, here today.

Also present were Kelantan Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) director Khuzaimah Hussin and Kampung Pachakan MyKp chairman Mohamad Yusoff Mamat. — Bernama