Fifteen years after it sprung up practically overnight, the wholesale fish market at Madel, Margao, which incidentally is the only of its kind in Goa, will get a new look that is expected the cost the exchequer Rs 12.89 crore.

The wholesale market will be constructed in two phases with leveling the whole area and constructing a compound wall around the 10,000 square metres of land being the first phase and that is expected to cost around Rs. 86 lakhs.

In the second phase the actual market along with the effluent treatment plant will be set up and while undertaking this work the present wholesale fish market will be shifted to probably the fields nearby that have been already acquired by the government.

UCJ Architecture & Environment, who are designing the market, has not yet prepared the final plan for the market but has finalised how the market will look. “The exact modalities of how the selling will be done and what will be done on the first floor above the selling area is yet to be decided,” said Chirag Jain while presenting the rough plans of the market.

The wholesale market will have two distinct sections where the fish will be sold. The section where only fish brought from outside the State will be sold will have 26 waiting bays where the trucks will park and the fish removed from it will be sold. This is planned keeping in mind that they use larger sized trucks

The section where fish from Goa only will be sold has two corridors each having 64 parking bays. The two sections appear to be designed to house trawler owners in one and the local ramponnkars in the other. More bays are planned for the intra state market as they use smaller trucks to transport the fish.

All three sections will have clearly designated area from where the vehicles will enter and park and once the fish is unloaded they will leave the market through clearly demarcated routes. Parking bays for trucks waiting to be unloaded are also provided.

“The market will be fitted with CCTV cameras and any violations particularly while entering the market or exiting market or parking will be noted and action will be taken against the violator,” said Vijai Sardesai, the local MLA and Town and Country Planning Minister.

The stink generated by the present wholesale market will hopefully be done away with in the new market where a proper effluent treatment system is also proposed to treat not only the waste water but also the fish waste that is generated.

Vertical Wetlands and Riverbed Filtration technology has been designed by BITS Pilani Goa and TERI to treat the effluents at the wholesale market. The natural system will treat 40 cubic metres of waste water. While 30 cubic metres of the treated water is expected to be used in the market for cleaning and other purpose, the remaining 10 cubic metres will be released in the adjacent rivulet.

Currently all the waste water including the waste generated in the wholesale fish market is just dumped in the nearby fields and ultimately goes to the adjacent rivulet.