A Rs. 165.6-crore fisheries harbour has been planned at Kulai, said Mangalore North MLA B.A. Mohinuddin Bava.
He said the go-ahead was given to the project at a meeting with Minister of State for Fisheries K. Abhayachandra Jain on November 8.
The project will come up after obtaining approval from the Centre, which would bear 75 per cent of the cost or Rs. 124.2 crore. Of the remaining 25 per cent, the State government would foot Rs. 8.28 crore (5 per cent) and New Mangalore Port Trust, Rs. 33.12 crore.
Fishermen use the New Mangalore Port during the monsoon months of June, July and August for unloading fish.
They claim right over the port saying that they were displaced when the port was constructed.
Mr. Bawa said the project would need 9.57 acres as per the survey conducted. At the November 8 meeting, he had insisted that no property should be demolished for the purpose. This had been agreed to.
The 3-metre-high and 70-metre-long jetty will have three auction areas, a restaurant, office building, gear shed, rest shed, two net mending shed, public toilet, boat repair shop, radio tower. There would be two breakwaters – one measuring 260 m on the southern side and the other 760 m on the northern side.
Nascent stage
A top officer said the project was still in nascent stage and would be sent to the Centre only after it is okayed by the Central Institute of Coastal Engineering for Fisheries (CICEF), a premier institution established to conduct engineering and economic investigations and preparing the feasibility reports for fisheries harbours.
Though NMPT maintained that fishermen were not promised any rehabilitation by it when they were displaced, it had come forward to bear 20 per cent of the cost of harbour at Kulai as it was keen to ensure that port activities were not disturbed. The port being a high security area, its officials liked to restrict itself to its core activities.
