Minister for Ports K. Babu on Thursday laid the foundation stone for a Rs.5-crore office building at the Kollam port complex. Addressing a function in this connection, the Minister said that with the electronic data interface facility provided, the Kollam port has already become a full-fledged seaport.
Though brisk commercial shipping activity was yet to take off, since the inauguration of the port, 65 ships had called at Kollam and two of those carried raw cashew consignments, Mr. Babu said.
“Since the inauguration of the port the government had invested more than Rs.50 crore for purchasing modern equipment required for operating the port. Requisite infrastructure, except an office within the port complex, had been put in place. “Now the office complex is also coming up and work on it will commence from Friday,” he said.
While the government was going ahead with programmes to develop the Kollam port, it was unfortunate that some sections were misleading the local fishing community over such development projects. The Minister said no resident of the area would be displaced because of the port development projects.
The present United Democratic Front government had given top priority to the needs of the fishing community and during its tenure, 14,300 houses were constructed for the fishing community. Out of this, 1,947 houses were in Kollam. The construction of another 700 houses would soon be given the Cabinet approval, he said.
