Heavy silting has made Pasni Harbour inoperative forcing fishermen to berth at a small creek called ‘Juddy Hoor’, reports The News.
The government of Japan provided a grant of Rs800 million for the rehabilitation of the harbor in 2010, however the authorities have failed to complete initial preparations to begin maintenance work.
Muhammad Iqbal, Managing Director of Pasni Fish Harbour Authority (PFHA), claims that the provincial government is ready to revive and maintain the harbor as soon as possible.
Iqbal stressed that a Dutch consultant has already been hired and a presentation to the Balochistan government has been made following the survey conducted by the consultant.
The project director will be in charge of monitoring the whole project and in this regard a delegation has gone to Netherlands.
The Karachi Port Trust in 2009 informed the chief minister Balochistan that the PFH breakwater design had been causing major issues, thus it had to be redesigned to avoid frequent silting. They explained that KPT dredger dumps silt into the open sea in order to prevent silting but the breakwater design is faulty due to which early silting takes place.
PFHA should provide its own dredger to be able to conduct dredging on regular basis and avoid early silting, officials said.
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Dredging Today Staff, March 8, 2012