Agriculture Minister S. Damodaran on Sunday laid the foundation for a new fish market in Ukkadam. The Coimbatore Corporation is building the Rs. 3.24 crore fish market with assistance from the Central Fisheries Development Corporation on ‘Design, Build, Operate and Transfer’ basis.
He laid the stone in the presence of Mayor S.M. Velusamy, Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy, Members of Legislative Assembly S.P. Velumani and R. Doraisamy, Deputy Mayor Leelavathi Unni, heads of various committees and councillors.
A release from the Corporation said that it decided to build a new market following demands from traders who sought a modern complex to sell fish. The contractor building the new market would also be in charge of the maintenance operations for 20 years.
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The Corporation had earlier floated tenders for building a new fish market but there were not many takers. And this delayed the construction of a new fish market.
To avoid further delay, the Corporation sought funds from the fisheries development corporation, which granted Rs. 2.25 crore.
To the sum the Corporation added Rs. 99.11 lakh to take the total contribution towards the project to Rs. 3.24 crore and take up the construction under the DBOT mode.
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In doing so the Corporation had ensured that the funds sanctioned for the purpose were spent properly. The Council had also approved of the move to construct the market.
The release said that the new market would have new generator, canteen, ATM centre, parking lots, toilet, waste dumping yard, facilities to sell fish in hygienic atmosphere, cold storage facility, ice plant and much more to accommodate the traders’ interests.