Strengthening and modernisation of infrastructure at the fishing harbour at Akkaraipettai in Nagapattinam district at ₹ 81 crore formally commenced on Friday with Collector Johny Tom Varghese laying the foundation stone for the project.
The fishing harbour at Akkaraipettai village in Nagapattinam suffered damages during the 2004 tsunami. The State government, with the assistance of the World Bank, through its Emergency Tsunami Reconstruction Project (ETRP), allocated ₹ 45.21 crore to reconstruct the fishing harbour.
The reconstruction project was completed in 2016 and put to use for the fishermen. Over the years, a significant increase in the number of persons involved in fishing and its allied activities around the coastal areas of Nagapattinam necessitated the modernisation of the fishing harbour at Akkaraipettai.
Accordingly, the Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare sent a proposal to the State government to modernise and scale up the basic infrastructure at the fishing harbour by providing additional facilities for berthing and hygienic handling of fishermen’s catch.
The State government decided to utilise the funds sanctioned under the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund and allocated a sum of ₹ 81 crore for modernisation.
The infrastructure to be upgraded at the fishing harbour includes an auction hall with a loading platform, net mending shed, parking area, slipway, sanitary complex, approach roads, sewage treatment plant, and basin dredging.
By strengthening the infrastructure at the fishing harbour for landing and marketing the catch under hygienic conditions, more than 14,000 fishermen with 576 motor fishing vessels and 448 fibre-reinforced plastic boats from Akkaraipettai and its surrounding villages are likely to be benefited.
N. Gowthaman, Chairman, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation, and officials from the Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare among others participated in the function.
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