The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will provide PHP4 million worth of shared service facilities (SSFs) for iodized salt production in Antique.

“Procurement of the equipment for the SSF is now ongoing at the DTI Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) for the four LGUs (local government units),” DTI-Antique Director Mutya Eusores said in a press conference to provide an update on their programs and services, at the Antique National School Teachers and Employees Cooperative building in San Jose de Buenavista on Tuesday.

She identified the LGUs of Belison, Patnongon, Bugasong, and Laua-an towns as co-operators to provide the needed processing center or shed house, capitalization, and labor.

The SSF components include a salinometer, a device that measures the salinity of a solution; furnace; evaporation vat; cooling trough; settling tank; hose; and water pump.

“The salt production is being patterned after the open pan cooking that already exists in Belison,” she said.

Open pan cooking uses a method where the seawater is cooked in a furnace under a shed house, thus salt production continues even when it rains.

Eusores said Senate Pro-Tempore Loren Legarda looked for the PHP4 million funding for the SSF.

DTI Senior Trade and Industry Development Specialist Gevi Kristina Sandoy said the four LGUs submitted their project proposals on salt production so they were chosen for the project.

“We are providing technical support to the LGUs for the establishment of their SSF,” she said.

The learning sessions on salt production for personnel to be assigned to the SSF conducted sometime in May were part of their technical support. (PNA)