With the State Government preparing to present its Budget for 2022-23 after a month, many proposals announced for the coastal region by the then Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa in the 2021-22 Budget, except the plastic park in Mangaluru, remains on paper.
Among the major proposals announced for the coastal region by Mr. Yediyurappa included setting up of an Advanced Bio-tech Innovation Centre for Aquamarine, developing waterways between Mangaluru and Panaji, upgrading the Karnataka Coastal Development Authority as a board, development of beaches and adopting upgraded technology to beef up coastal surveillance.
The then Chief Minister said that the bio-tech innovation centre will be established for the development of bio-technology industries and innovative startups and to encourage the production of light food items utilising the bio-active compounds available from fish and sea weed. The Government allocated ₹6 crore for the centre during 2021-22. Sources said that it has remained merely a proposal.
The proposal to introduce a Bill to revamp the Karavali (Coastal) Development Authority into Karavali (Coastal) Development Board for the comprehensive development of the coastal area also has not made any headway.
The Budget had mentioned developing waterways between Mangaluru and Panaji under the public-private partnership to promote tourism and for affordable passenger and freight transportation. It proposed to upgrade more beaches to international standards to promote tourism. In this background, it proposed to develop Trasi, Maravanthe, Ottinene and other beaches in Udupi district with an outlay of ₹10 crore.
The then Chief Minister had said that to boost tourism, a proposal has been submitted to the Union Government to develop waterways in the Kali (Uttara Kannada), the Nethravathi and the Gurupura (Dakshina Kannada) and from Hangarkatta to Manipal in Udupi district. Nearly a year after these announcements were made, they have remained as assurances only.
Plastic park
The then Chief Minister had said that with assistance from the Union Government, a plastic park will be developed at Ganjimutt in Mangaluru to encourage plastic and petro-chemical industries.
This project received the final approval from the Union Government last week. The park will be set up on 104 acres of Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) land at an estimated cost of ₹62.77 crore. Of this, 50% of the project cost, that is ₹31.38 crore, will be borne by the Union Government and the remaining 50% by the KIADB, the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers wrote to the KIADB on January 21 stating that the project should take off within three months from the date of sanction.
