Business

Senate committee inspects fish harbour

Calls for taking immediate steps to fully utilise capacity.

PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO/APP January 31, 2014

Port facilities are necessary for increase in seafood production. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO/EXPRESS

KARACHI: The Senate Standing Committee on Ports and Shipping has called for developing an action plan for ensuring full utilisation of the Korangi Fish Harbour according to the European Union (EU) standards in order to increase deep-sea traffic for the exploitation of marine resources.

A meeting of the standing committee, chaired by Senator Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hassani at the harbour, reviewed the affairs and suggested steps for making the harbour fully operational.

Senators Nuzhat Sadiq, Shahi Syed, Saeedul Hassan Mandhokhail, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Nasir, Babar Khan Ghauri, secretary Ministry of Ports and Shipping, top officials of the Sindh government, Marine Fisheries Department as well as representatives of relevant industries and fishermen societies attended the meeting.

The committee chairman said it was lamentable that the harbour was not fully operational for deep-sea fishing. He added the harbour’s full utilisation would create employment opportunities, besides becoming a source of earning foreign exchange through seafood exports to the EU.

The committee expressed concern over an incomplete board of directors of the Korangi Fish Harbour and directed that the board should be completed immediately.

It also suggested that the secretary Ministry of Ports and Shipping should be made its chairman.

Members of the committee visited the facilities and affiliated factories established on the premises of the harbour. They made recommendations to the federal and provincial governments for the provision of basic amenities and security to the industrialists.

They also called for taking steps to remove illegal landing sites in Korangi Creek and for the removal of encroachments from the harbour. It suggested public-private partnership in order to benefit from the expertise of private partners for effective and efficient operations at the harbour.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2014.

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