Gangolli jetty renovation work to begin soon

Kundapur: The renovation works of the jetty at the second auction house in Gangoli port, which collapsed two and a half years ago, is expected to commence within a week or 15 days.

Rs 12 crore was granted for the renovation of the jetty, however, the works could not start due to objection to the tender by one of the contractor.

The contractor had filed a petition in the court of the Chief Secretary of the State government challenging the tender. The case is now settled and the objecting contractor did not get the tender.

The Gangolli fishing port is a major fishing hub of Udupi district. It was built around 11 years ago at a cost of Rs 9.5 crore having a 405-metre long jetty and an auction house.

However, after part of the jetty collapsed only 150 metre of the jetty is usable. Other parts of the port are full of silt and are useless.

Locals allege that a tender of Rs 10 lakh was earlier issued for an emergency renovation of the jetty, however, only an earth moving equipment was put out on the water in a floating craft for 2 days and nothing else was done.

Officials have stated that the work had to be stopped due to an error in the e-tendering process.

The port of Gangoli has over 300 Pershing boats, over 600 fishing boats and over 500 traditional boats. The jetty slab of the port had collapsed two years ago. For that reason, fishing activity in the second auction house was also blocked due to fear of the entire building collapsing. This caused many problems to the boats stopping at the port. This is why the expansion or rebuilding of the jetty is urgently needed.