Asia's best fish market to be opened in Peliyagoda

by P. Krishnaswamy

Construction work on the state-of-the-art fish market at Peliyagoda has been completed and will be opened next month, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Rajitha Senaratne told the Sunday Observer.

St. John's Fish Market at Pettah will be shifted to Peliyagoda and all problems encountered by some of the stall-owners in marketing and relocating to the new venue were sorted out by him at a recent meeting, the Minister said.

The new fish market with 148 wholesale stalls, 128 retail stalls, cold rooms facilities, auto signalling systems, parking and loading/unloading facilities is the best and biggest in Asia, the Minister said. It will have all other facilities including banks, post offices, telecommunication centres, telebanking and the latest cleaning system.

All stall owners have been registered and agreements have been signed with them. he said.

Ninety percent of work on the construction of the Dikowita fishing harbour in the Gampaha district has been completed but the company from Holland that was commissioned for the purpose at a cost of Euros 53 million has failed to meet to some of the important conditions in the agreement, including the requisite depth of the access canal, cool plant and ice plant.

If the company is not willing to provide these basic requirements, he would negotiate with local companies to complete the remaining 10 percent work, the Minister said. Compared to the exorbitant costs, the four fishing harbours to be constructed in Gurungar, Pesalai and Mannar in the Northern province and Gandara in the Southern province would cost only Euros 44 million, he said, adding that these four fishing harbours will also be completed soon.

The 11 point proposal submitted to him by the Federation of Northern Fishermen's Associations after the five-day visit of its 20 member delegation to Tamil Nadu for discussions with their Indian counterparts, last August, on introducing measures to prevent poaching in Sri Lankan territorial waters would not be considered for government to government agreements with India, he said.

The reason being that the proposals have included clauses allowing the presence of an unlimited number of Indian fishing vessels and trawlers in Sri Lanka's territorial waters on a certain number of days every month.