Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama [4th from left] while commissioning the Bula Batiki Virgin Coconut Oil Processing shed.

Not having a proper site to process oil will be a thing of the past for the people of Batiki in Lomaiviti.

This comes as Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama commissioned the Bula Batiki Virgin Coconut Oil Processing shed.

Bainimarama says this will boost production for the villagers as previously, people of Batiki had been processing oil at the Yavu Village Community Hall which was not a good location for production.

He says a serious and growing business like oil needs a proper place to produce and package its product adding that the company has been in operation since 2017 and has been exporting oil to the European and New Zealand markets.

Bainimarama says the opening of the new processing shed will improve delivery of services and open markets to other countries in the coming years.

Leaving no one behind‼
Today,@FijiPM commissioned the new Batiki Virgin Coconut Oil Processing Shed and the nursing station solar power system on the island.The Fijian Government services aims to reach every Fijian throughout the country including #rural and maritime islands. pic.twitter.com/0ImO6yFexk

— Office of the Prime Minister (@fiji_opm) September 10, 2020

He says the $75,000 investment through the Ministry of Agriculture will be paid back many times over by the income of the company.

Apart from the processing shed, the Prime Minister also commissioned a $72,000 solar power system for the nursing station located in Mua Village, Batiki.

Bainimarama says any medical facility must have reliable power on demand as lives depend on it.

The project was funded under the Small Grants Scheme and will benefit the four villages of the Tikina Batiki which are Mua, Yavu, Manuku and Naigani.