The Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Shri. Parshottam Rupala has informed that The Visakhapatnam Port Trust under Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India has finalized the Detailed Project Report for Modernisation of Fishing harbour at Vishakhapatnam at an estimated cost of Rs.152.81 crore under Central Sector in convergence with Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) of Department of Fisheries, Government of India and Sagarmala scheme of Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India.
Setting up of fishing harbours depends on several factors such as assessed need, availability of land, project feasibility, receipt of complete project proposal from the State Governments, etc. The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying under the PMMSY, inter-alia, provides financial assistance to the State Governments and Union Territories (UTs) for the development of fishing harbours and fish landing centres. Under PMMSY, the central financial assistance upto 60% of project cost to the State Governments and 100% for UTs is provided under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme component for the development of fishing harbours and fish landing centres. Besides, the Government of India meets the entire cost under Central Sector for modernization of fishing harbours exclusively owned by the Central Government. The PMMSY also provides for suitable linkages and convergence with the “Sagarmala” scheme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Further, in order to address the infrastructure requirements of fisheries sector, the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying during 2018-19 created the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) with a total fund size of Rs 7522.48 crore. Under FIDF, concessional finance is provided to State Governments and their entities including private sector for development of fisheries infrastructure including fishing harbours and fish landing centres. States including Andhra Pradesh are availing assistance under the above schemes for establishing fishing harbours.