AP State to get 9 fishing harbours

Amaravati: The state government has decided to construct nine new fishing harbours in two phases in nine coastal districts in the state.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials concerned to complete the construction of the fishing harbours as per the schedule, during a review on infrastructure and investment at his camp office in Tadepalli on Thursday.

The Chief Minister said that the availability of harbours in the state would improve the living standards of fishermen and put an end to the migration of the community in search of livelihood.

Fishermen's primary livelihood activity is fishing and hence government must bring cutting edge technology to the state and create favourable environment, observed the Chief Minster.

It is estimated that Rs 2,801 crore is needed to construct the nine fishing harbours in the state. Uppada in East Godavari district, Machilipatnam in Krishna, Nizampatnam phase -1 in Guntur, Juvvala Dinne in Nellore will be taken up in the first phase at an estimated cost of Rs 1,304 crore, said the Chief Minister.

The government aims to construct the harbours at another five places in the second phase at a cost of Rs 1,597.6 crore.

The harbours at Vadarevu and Kothapatnam in Prakasam district, Budhagatlapalem and Edduvanipalem in Srikakulam district and another place in Visakhapatnam district will be constructed in the second phase.

At the same time, Jagan asked the officials to prepare plans to construct an airport in Prakasam district. He also directed them to address all problems in the land acquisition and others regarding Bhogapuram airport.