Calcutta, March 17: The Centre today told the state government it would fully fund the Rs 200-crore deep-sea fishing harbour project in East Midnapore.

The harbour, said to be one of the largest in the country, will come up at Petuaghat near Contai in East Midnapore.

“Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar called me this morning to convey that the Centre would fully fund the Rs 200-crore project, which will generate employment for 10,000 people. The first phase will be complete by 2009-10,” state fisheries minister Kiranmoy Nanda said at Writers’ Buildings.

Earlier, it had been decided that the project would be jointly funded by the Centre and the state. The initial cost was estimated to be Rs 32 crore.

In 2006, governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi had laid the foundation stone for the project, which is located at the mouth of the Rasulpur river as it flows into the Bay of Bengal, about 175km from Calcutta.

Fisheries secretary R.P.S. Khalon, who was in Delhi to attend a meeting of the Union agriculture ministry, said the project would come up on 75 acres owned by the land and land reforms department.

“We did not have any problems getting the land as the land and land reforms department has already transferred it to the fisheries department,” he added.

Nanda said Rs 50 crore would be spent in the first phase.

“We will name the fishing harbour after freedom fighter Deshpran Birendra Sashmal and try to complete it at the earliest,” the fisheries minister added.

Officials in the fisheries department said the Petuaghat harbour would have the capacity to house 500 big trawlers and 300 smaller mechanised fishing boats.

“It will be equipped to handle and send out about 3,500 tonnes of fish daily,” an official said.

The port will have four large jetties, an auction market, a fuel pump and an ice plant. A connecting road from the harbour will also be built.

“Fish marketing centres will be set up at Shankarpur in East Midnapore and Kakdwip and Sultanpur in South 24-Parganas,” said an official.

The scenic backdrop to the Petuaghat harbour is expected to attract tourists. “We will set up a tourist village with cottages to match the backdrop,” Nanda said.