Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will lay the foundation stone for four fishing harbours and 25 aqua hubs today on the occasion of World Fisheries Day.
The Chief Minister will virtually lay the foundation stone for fishing harbours at Nellore, Guntur, Krishna and East Godavari districts to be developed at an investment of ₹1,510 crore.
The State government proposes to set up eight fishing harbours and four fish landing centres at an outlay of ₹3,000 crore, to put the maritime wealth of the State to optimum use.
In the first phase, tenders have been called for four fishing harbours at Juvvaladinne, Nizampatnam, Machilipatnam and Uppada, which entail a total investment of ₹1,510 crore. These are expected to be developed within two years. The tenders will be finalised in the second week of December.
Andhra Pradesh, which has the second longest coastline of about 974 km in the country, plans to develop a robust fishing infrastructure.
The State government laid the proposals for constructing a good number of fishing harbours and fish landing centres to benefit the 6.3 lakh fisherman population in the State who are depending on fishing and allied marine activities.
Through the new fishing harbours, it is expected that an additional 2.37 lakh tonnes of fish and prawn catch worth nearly ₹500 crore will be added as gross value addition (GVA) to the State and 85,000 direct and indirect jobs would be generated. The State government will be developing these green energy harbours with modern facilities such as cold storage units, fish processing units, chilling centres, boat handling, and repair facilities. There are also plans to provide one or two coastal cargo berths in the fishing harbours, wherever feasible, to facilitate export operations.