Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour upgrade cost put at Rs 168.08 cr

Visakhapatnam The teething problems notwithstanding, various works on the phase-wise modernisation and upgradation of Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour, one of the main exporting hubs for seafood through Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA), is continuing at brisk pace.

The project cost which was fixed at Rs151.81 crore originally, is being revised to Rs 168.08 crore. Now the process is on to obtain sanction from the Ministry of Fisheries and Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) for the revised estimates.

As part of the project, facelift works including resurfacing of existing jetties and floating jetties are being taken up.

The upkeep of the fishing harbour built by the VPA is also taken care of by the VPA after several proposals for a long time for its modernisation. Visakhapatnam accounts for an estimated export turnover of over Rs 7,000 crore and the need to modernise it for better and hygienic handling of marine food along with cold storage and value addition facilities with processing plants have remained a long awaited demand by the traders as well as the fishermen community.

The work on construction has been taken up after the conceptual plan was finalised by Earnst & Young and administrative approval by the Government of India in March, 2022.

Out of the total project outlay, Rs 103.88 crore is allotted for civil and electrical works to make the fishing harbour a world-class harbour with all the modern amenities including 24x7 power and water supply, proper drainage and road network, security, rest rooms and provision for drying of fish and auction for local vendors as well as the exporters.

VPA has decided to procure mechanical equipment and the take up PPP works i.e., outsource tube ice plant equipment/slurry ice plant equipment/RO plant/office/food court / dormitory when the civil works near completion.

VPA Chairman Dr M Angamuthu told Bizz Buzz on Monday that the scheduled time for completion of the project is November 30, which may be revised due to fishermen issues and due to poor response in tenders for some of the works. It has been decided to fix the revised deadline of July 31, 2024 for the completion of the project.

As part of first phase, works involving packaging unit/cold chamber/parking area in ground floor, office space, canteen, dormitory, common services in first floor/ net mending the shed /road covering the solar panel/ overhead tank, underground tank/gate complex and fire fighting are at advance stage of completion at a cost of Rs 37.26 crore. These works have been awarded to Shrushti Contech PVt Ltd.

The work order for the first phase works was issued on November 16, 2022. The civil works started immediately on December 1, 2022. "This is one of the topmost priority projects for the Government of India. Hence, we don't want to tolerate any delay to extend the benefits of modernisation to the fishermen community as early as possible," Dr Angamuthu pointed out.

Work on superstructure works of packaging unit/cold chamber, net mending shed and overhead tank are now in progress. Foundation works of the parking area and gate complex and road works are under progress. There was a delay in starting of these works as the land in question was under occupation of some fishermen. After discussion and meetings with fishermen associations, full fledged work started in March. There was another round of demand by the fishermen in April seeking construction of Auction Hall No. 3 and a fixed jetty in place of floating jetty. They also wanted a beaching point and prioritised these works instead of other works. Until then they served the ultimatum that they will not allow the authorities to take up any other work.