Fishing boats anchored at Karachi harbour. (Photo: Mohammad Ashraf Khan, FIS)

Karachi Harbour to receive overhaul

A master plan for the overhaul of the Karachi Fish Harbour (KFH) has been completed and is expected to be given to the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA) by the end of June.

The Sindh Government assigned the task of designing the model to the National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak) a year ago. They said that the project would cost PKR 3 billion (USD 34.9 million).

Government authorities will review the model and conduct the proper planning. The implementation process would start soon after, reports The News.

The master plan involves the construction of two new auction halls at the harbour, remodeling seafood processing units, establishing a shrimp peeling yard, building two fishmeal plants and renewing all roads leading to the harbour. Among the measures to enhance the infrastructure, firefighting equipment will be installed on the premises and a boat building yard and a two story building for the KFHA offices will be added.

Currently, the harbour suffers from several infrastructural problems. The sewage system does not work appropriately: waste from seafood processing units, markets and offices gets released into the main channel – the harbour’s only source of fish.

The remodeling plan would see that the sewage system avoids releasing untreated sewerage. A treatment plant would be installed to make sure the harbour remains clean and fishers, boat owners, traders, officials and others do not face problems.

Two fishmeal plants would also be built at the harbour so fish discards could be sold to them directly.

This approach would help minimise the pollution caused by trucks entering the harbour to transport fishmeal to Bin Qasim Town, the only place where fishmeal facilities are now located. Building the two auction halls, K-IV and K-V, is also important to ease the process of selling and purchasing fish.

The construction of shrimp peeling yards would help bolster shrimp sales, one reason being that the European Union (EU) banned seafood exports from Pakistan because officials found the country’s shrimps peeling method inadequate.

As well, the harbour would have new roads, an expanded jetty for the comfort of fishers, clean auction halls and the boat yard would be improved.

Related article:

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By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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