Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Byndoor (SP)
Byndoor, Aug 2: "The stacking of boulders on the seashore, which is being resorted to since decades to thwart the sea erosion has proved to be ineffective. Therefore, a shoreline protection programme towards the construction of permanent works in the seashore has been undertaken,” said deputy manager of COMACOE, the firm which has bagged the contract for executing this project, Kishore Kumar. He said that the total cost of this project is Rs 83 crore.
Kishore Kumar was providing information about the works being undertaken after leading the media representatives on Wednesday August 1 to the project area.
“The narrow Trasi-Maravanthe stretch through which national highway 66 passes is a sensitive area as far as sea erosion is concerned. Therefore, the Sustainable Coastal Protection and Management Investment Programme being funded by Asian Development Bank under the first integrated coastal management programme of India is being executed here," he added.
"The works now being undertaken is not for construction of traditional protective wall against the surging sea. Instead of stacking boulders all along the seashore, 15 normal groynes and nine T-groynes for 3.5 km stretch of the beach are being built. They affectively thwart sea erosion. Moreover, because of the sand which gets accumulated at one place, shoreline recedes and the sand beach expands. This adds to the beauty of the beach. 40 percent of work at Maravanthe-Trasi has already been completed and the entire work would be completed by March next year," he explained.
Providing details about the design of the project, he said that in the 3.5 km long seashore here, 24 groynes, which are also known as breakwaters, would be built by maintaining a space of 120 metres between them. T-groynes would be built at places where the sea is closer to the highway. Normal groynes would be 100 metres in length, 30 metres in depth and four metres wide at the head. T-groynes would be 40 metres long, 36 metres wide at the bottom and five metres wide at the top. Total length of T-groynes will be 76 metres. The outer surface of the nine groynes would be protected with the help of concrete tetrapods," he stated.
Kishore Kumar said that the groynes will last longer as sand is dug to a depth of 1.5 metres below them, and geo-fabric sheets are spread on which boulders are stacked. "The implementation of this project is monitored by the department of ports, and our company, which has expertise in the construction of groynes, has been constructing them," he explained.
The media persons who went through the works observed that sand has already accumulated between the completed groynes and that the coast has expanded to that extent. Engineer of the company, Venkatesh, was present.