New fish market at Umm Slal to open on Sunday

The new fish market at the northern Doha township of Umm Slal will open on Sunday after sunset, the permanent committee for managing central markets at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) announced yesterday.The opening will be followed by an auction for local fish. The new fish market will receive customers from 6am to 10pm, Saturday to Thursday. On Fridays, the fish market will function 6am to 10.30am and from 3pm to 10pm.According to a statement from the MEC, only the fish market at the Central Market Complex at Abu Hamour will be closed now. Other markets for fruits, vegetables and meat will continue at Abu Hamour until the new central markets at Sailiyah and Wakrah open.The Umm Slal Central Market will have fish auctions twice daily. The auction before dawn is for imported fish while the one after sunset will be for locally caught fish.There are also retail and wholesale stalls to sell vegetables, fruits and meat in addition to a variety of items and products. There is an air-conditioned auction yard for fish, a fish and seafood restaurant and cafeteria, a centre to distribute ration and subsidised fodder and outlets for wholesale food products, shops for selling coffee, honey and nuts, spices, local bakery and pastry, milk, juice, chilled and frozen poultry, in addition to a plant nursery.The Umm Slal Central Market also has an automated slaughter house for cattle and livestock with a capacity of 500 carcasses a day. It will function from 5am to 5pm on all days. A veterinary service office will also operate.Umm Slal was chosen as the location for the new fish market after the committee conducted several studies and consultations with retailers and wholesalers, fishermen and dealers, showing that 70% of the fish at the central fish market in Abu Hamour area originates from the northern parts of Qatar.