Attempts to resume the pending land reclamation work for the development of Koyilandy fishing harbour have got a fillip with the decision of the harbour engineering wing to make use of the soil and sediments dug out from the Puthiyappa harbour for the project.
Under the new move, both the harbours will largely benefit for the time-bound completion of long pending expansion works.
Dredging works at the Puthiyappa harbour had been pending as a contractor earlier agreed to finish the works claimed difficulties in finding a proper spot to dispose of the mined sand and other sediments.
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Minister for Fisheries and Port K. Babu, who recently visited the Puthiyappa harbour, reviewed the works and held discussions with the harbour engineering officials to ensure the fast completion of the projects.
Earlier, he had convened a separate meeting of people’s representatives from the Elathur and Koyilandy Assembly constituencies to settle the technical issues and local disputes.
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K. Dasan, MLA, who recently made a submission in the Assembly on the fate of the pending project, said the opposition of local fishermen to using the soil mined from the Koyilandy harbour premises itself for the reclamation works was continuing as a major hurdle.
“Now it has been settled and we will get the required quantity of filling materials from Puthiyappa,” he said.
It was in 2007 that the harbour development works formally commenced at Koyilandy with a mission to provide better facilities for the local fishermen. The project, passed in 2005, had been approved by the then Union government also as it was projected to fetch huge benefits to around 50,000 fishermen from the region. However, with the delay in completion, the project cost rose from Rs.34 crore to Rs.62 crore now.