Mangaluru: Mangaluru South MLA J R Lobo said today that keeping the smart city project in mind, development of old port and fishing is a vital necessity.
Addressing a press conference on Friday at Mangaluru, he said that people of Mangaluru had a lot of expectations when the Central government released the first list of smart cities, but unfortunately Mangaluru was not included in it.
“Mangaluru city has a history. Old port and fishing is the one of the main attractions in the city. All the spices, coffee and many more things were exported from the old port. Mangaluru old port was the main location in connecting Lakshadweep Islands. Thousands of people are employed in fishing. There is no other field in the city which has such a large number of workers,” he said.
He further said that 80 per cent of the Lakshadweep trade has transferred to Kerala. We are trying to bring it back. There is a proposal of rebuilding the Lakshadweep rave in Mangaluru old port. If it clicks, then Rs 70 crore will be invested by the Lakshadweep administration here in Mangaluru.
“Modernization of old port, fishing markets and other markets is important. There are some other places which are a part of history like Mangaluru Tile Factory and cashew nut factories, but it is difficult to renovate those in a short period of time,” he added.
Former youth Congress president Arun Coelho, Corporator Appi Latha and others were present.
