State Minister Tuku inspects construction work of fish landing center in Cox's Bazar

During the inspection, the state minister emphasized implementing the project work within the stipulated time while maintaining proper quality. He said that once a modern fish landing center is established, the fish landing, preservation, management, and marketing systems will improve. As a result, fishermen will have the opportunity to receive fair prices for their harvested fish, and positive changes will come to post-harvest management in the fisheries sector.

At the time, Mr. Hazui and Mr. Ikeda, managers of the Japanese contractor firm JDC–Konoike Joint Venture, responsible for executing the project’s construction work, were present. Md. Abubakar Sarkar, Private Secretary to the state minister; Habibul Islam, Manager of BFDC Cox's Bazar; Sujoy Pal, Senior Upazila Fisheries Officer; Soeb Salehin, Deputy Project Director of the project; and other officials of the JICA project and BFDC were also present.

It may be noted that the project is being implemented at an estimated cost of Tk 232 crore 83 lakh (GOB Tk 60 crore 51 lakh 62 thousand and JICA grant Tk 172 crore 31 lakh 38 thousand), with a duration from January 2024 to December 2027. Once the project is implemented, the annual fish landing at Cox's Bazar Fish Landing Center will increase from 7,000 metric tons to 14,000 metric tons. At the same time, annual ice production capacity will increase from 5,000 metric tons to 7,500 metric tons. Additional berthing facilities for 40 fishing boats per day will be created, and the waiting time for landing fish from trawlers is expected to decrease by about two hours.