KARWAR: The second phase of the Sea Bird Naval Project involving a cost of Rs 12,000 crore will be completed by the next decade, said Rear Admiral Atulkumar Jain, flag officer commanding Karnataka naval area at Karwar naval base on Thursday. Stating that financial approval for the project was expected shortly, he said the Karwar naval base would be the biggest among all the naval bases in the country after the completion of the second phase. It will include the construction of seven additional jetties to provide berthing facilities for 50 ships at a time, construction of a dry dock-yard, establishment of a full-scale air station, missile and armament depot and maintenance organisations. The ship lift and repair system at the base will be further strengthened, he added.The base will be capable of providing berthing facilities to all types of warships including aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. He said only one eighth of the land acquired for the Sea Bird Project will be developed for the base and the question of acquiring additional land did not arise. The Karwar naval base will be an environment friendly one, he added. Jain clarified that the proposed naval air station would cater to the needs of naval aircrafts only. It will provide landing facilities to civilian aircrafts only if the state government releases additional land to expand the runway, he said. He spoke about the Karwar naval base and how it provided ample job opportunities for the local people. In view of this, the navy will send a proposal to the state government to establish more polytechnics in the district to enable local youth to achieve the required skill for the navy. So far, 178 personnel have been recruited to the navy from project affected families (PAF). Jain welcomed the state government’s proposal to establish a Maritime Board to regulate marine traffic.
Comments
0 comment