The port city will soon have AP’s first Fish Food Zone (FFZ) on the lines of those in Chidambaram and Bengaluru. The zone will have 62 shops trading only dry fish, fresh water fish and marine fish as well as a restaurant serving fish delicacies. Freezers will also be provided to the traders. The AP fisheries department with the help of Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (Vuda) will build a G+4 building on a 900 square yard area at the existing fishing market adjacent to Dwarakanagar RTC Complex. The project will cost Rs 4.74 crore of which the fisheries department has already released Rs 2.74 crore to Vuda. The remaining funds will be provided under the special development packages for AP and National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB). Fisheries officials recently met chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and submitted the progress report following which he gave some inputs and instructed them to speed up the project. Vuda is waiting for the project blueprint and once the design is confirmed, the development authority will start the construction works by inviting tenders. The project was mooted after they were instructed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu during his recent visit to the city, said joint director of fisheries department VV Rao. “The department has planned to construct the building in the shape of a fish and make it a landmark in Dwarakanagar. We will finalise the design in a week following which Vuda will begin the construction works,” he said. The fishermen who sell their catch at the market on Sundays and Tuesdays will be allowed to have their own shops in the new building. They will have to adhere to guidelines put down by the concerned authorities in accordance to the standards set by Exports Promotion Council of India. “With the state government planning to develop the city as a tourist destination, we are putting in all our efforts to provide hygienic restaurants to tourists. As fish is an international food, we plan to popularise it through the FFZ,” Dr Rao told TOI.