The Hindu : Front Page : MoU for second phase of dredging

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Monday, Nov 27, 2006
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MoU for second phase of dredging

R. Vimal Kumar

Tuticorin : The Tuticorin Port Trust on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kerala State Maritime Development Corporation Limited (KSMDCL) to execute the second phase of dredging work in the fishing harbour here.

Official sources told The Hindu that the KSMDCL would dredge the harbour bay and the approach channel at a cost of Rs. 144 lakh.

"Approximately, 60,000 cubic metres of silt would be removed from the area so that the depth would be increased to 3.3 metres from the present 1.5 metre," sources said.

The dredger, TSHD Sindhuraj, which was originally owned by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and currently in the possession of the KSMDCL, will be used for the operation. The work will commence on December 10 and will be completed within three months.

The first phase of the dredging work was executed by the Tuticorin Port Trust for a width of 21 metres from the wharf.

The total cost of the work (first and second phase together) was estimated to be at Rs. 203 lakh and the entire amount was handed over to the TPT by the State Department of Fisheries.

The dredging works were carried out as a component of the project being executed to upgrade the facilities at the harbour at an overall cost of Rs. 504 lakh.

N. C. Jojo, Chief Engineer (in-charge), TPT, and Hari Achuta Varrier, Managing Director, KSMDCL, signed the MoU in the presence of N. K. Raghupathy, Chairman, TPT, Prabhakaran, Joint Director of Fisheries, P. J. Ranjan, Assistant Executive Engineer, Department of Fisheries, and senior officials of TPT.

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