The technical committee inspected the ongoing breakwater construction for Kulai Fishing harbour recently at the behest of the New Mangalore Port Authority near Mangaluru.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A three-member technical committee comprising experts from premier ocean research institutions in the country has said the layout and the alignment of the breakwater being built for the Kulai Fishing Harbour adheres to the original plan submitted by the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA).
The committee, comprising representatives from the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, and National Centre for Coastal Research, also said, “Having perused the Third Party Inspecting Agency report dtd 29.11.2024, NMPA is suggested to continue to ensure that the quality and standards are met to provide the best facilities to the fishermen community,” NMPA in a release here said on Tuesday. Members of the committee recently visited the Kulai harbour project site to conduct the inspection.
The NMPA constituted the committee with the approval of its board to examine the concerns about the project by the local fishermen. As suggested by the committee, Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS survey of the ongoing work was conducted on January 6 that was witnessed by representatives of the National Institute of Technology-Karnataka, the Project Management Consultant and the Vigilance Department of NMPA. After examining the RTK GPS survey report, NITK concluded that: “Upon comparing the on-site RTK GPS measurements with the layout supplied by NMPA as per the tender document, it was found that the alignment of centre line coordinates of the provided layout with measured coordinates at both the north and south breakwater is acceptable.”
The expert committee members who perused the documents related to the project and reports of NITK, observed observed that the layout and alignment of the as built breakwater based on recent RTK survey conducted was in agreement with original layout submitted by NMPA.
The Kulai Fishing Harbour was being jointly developed by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, NMPA and Karnataka Government. Envisaged in 1989, its work started in March 2023 in consultation with other departments and ministries. The harbour was being constructed at an estimated cost of ₹196.51 crore with the State Fisheries Department being the project proponent and NMPA being the implementing agency.
While construction of the southern breakwater of 262 m was almost complete, the northern breakwater of 831 m length was complete up to 560 m. Following concerns expressed by local fishermen, the fisheries department asked NMPA to halt the work; the work was on hold since October 16, 2024.
Published – February 04, 2025 09:06 pm IST