Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Douglas Devananda paid a fact finding visit to Oluvil Commercial Port and Fisheries Harbour in the Ampara district recently.
Addressing the media at the Harbour, the Minister said that he made this visit on the instructions of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to look in to the grievances of the fishermen. He said that he would make arrangements to find solutions to the affected families’ livelihoods due to the closure of the harbor.
The Minister pledged that the Harbour would be soon commissioned soon. “This Government would promise only what they could do.”
The Harbour was constructed by the Danish Construction Company MT Højgaard and was opened by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2008 as a part of the ‘Nagenahira Navodaya’ Development Program.
Due accumulating of to a sand dune at the main entrance to the Oluvil fisheries Harbor was closed as steps were not taken to clear them by the previous government. The fishing industry was badly affected as fishing boats were unable to enter or go out for fishing.
Chairman of the National Organization of Secretaries to Ministries, Keerthi Sri Weerasingha too had made several appeals to reopen the harbour. The plight of the ‘Harbour closure’ was first highlighted in ‘Sunday Observer’ and ‘Daily News’ in February 2020.
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