The Indian Naval Ship “Sarvekshak”, a survey vessel with hydrographic and oceanographic survey equipment suite, has recently arrived in Mauritius at the Port Louis Harbour.
The Minister of Housing and Lands, Purmanund Jhugroo, highlighted that the ship will operate in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Mauritius for about two months to carry out joint hydrographic and oceanographic surveys for the production of nautical charts.
The ship will be conducting hydrographic survey off Le Morne from 14 to 31 December 2018 and off the southern coast of Rodrigues as from 4 January 2019.
The “Sarvekshak” will also pave the way for the publishing of two new navigational charts namely for Point Sud Quest (Le Morne) and Rodrigues Island which will be available at the Ministry of Housing and Lands, for users in Mauritius and seafarers all over the world.
The ship will survey areas in Rodrigues which have never been systematically charted earlier and will make the waters safer to navigate by bigger crafts and ships, he added.
Minister Jhugroo also informed that the inshore survey vessel Pathfinder which was handed over to the Government of Mauritius by the Government of India in 2013, has been ferried back to Mauritius by the “Sarvekshak” ship following four years of repairs and maintenance works in India.