The Oluvil Harbour which presently operates under the Ports Authority of Sri Lanka is to be vested with the Fisheries Ministry to be a well-equipped fisheries harbour.
Consequently it will be a leading fisheries harbour in the Northern and the Eastern region.
Fisheries Minster Douglas Devananda revealed this when he visited the Oluvil Port recently to collect firsthand information about converting the harbour into a leading fisheries harbour equipped with anchoring facilities and other infrastructure. The Minister inspected the fish processing unit, freezing and the storage complex already completed under the Phase One of the project.
The new harbour would be able to accommodate 176 multi-day fishing boats, 322 boats fitted with outboard engines and 72 one-day fishing vessels.
Oluvil Harbour has been under the purview of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority for years having failed to achieve the set objectives and the government acceded to Minister Devananda’s request that the harbour be handed over to the Fisheries Ministry for the benefit of a large number of fishermen in the North and the East.
“We have appointed a special committee to submit a report on the economic benefits the harbour project will offer the fishermen and the nature of facilities to be made available at the harbour in the course of its conversion as a leading fisheries harbour in the Northern and the Eastern region, within one week,” the Minister said.
“Two weeks ago we were able to open two new fisheries harbours – the Wellamankara and Kalametiya fisheries harbours – at a cost of Rs. 3,749 million. Also the Australian Government recently donated funds of around Rs. 1,223 million for installing modern vessel monitoring systems to nearly 5,200 to multi-day fishing vessels in addition to opening a fisheries monitoring centre enabling the Sri Lankan authorities to monitor the location of any particular fishing vessel in international waters.”