After a long break, construction work for the much-awaited geo-synthetic tube seawall has begun again on the seacoast under Rajnagar block in Kendrapada district. Once erected, the wall would protect big patches of village land along the seashore from incursion and erosion.
The project is now set to be completed in March 2015, said officials of the Coastal Embankment Division here.The project was mooted in 2008 and later commissioned under the World Bank-funded Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme (ICZMP).According to Executive Engineer of the Coastal Embankment Division Jugal Kishore Tripathy, the project work was delayed due to a variety of reasons that were beyond the division’s control. Work has now begun under the technical supervision of engineers deputed by ICZMP and Coastal Embankment Division of the State Government.
A Pune-based construction company is carrying out the work at a total cost of Rs33 crore. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai had extended technical support for the project.Though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the project in 2008, technical modification of the project plan and delay in floating of global tender led to the holdup of the project, sources informed.
The seawall will be 7.4 metre high as the tidal surge rises to 5 metres during cyclonic storms. The length of the geo-tube embankment would be 675 metres while the plinth of the seawall would be three metre deep.
The geo-synthetic tube would resist the impact of the ultra-violet rays and tidal velocity. As per the technical plan, geo-tubes made up of high grade rexin and filled with sand would be put in place at the erosion-hit Pentha embankment. These bags would act as protective barrier against tidal waves. It would absorb the tidal ingress, salinity and sodium chloride contents in sea water and stop the erosion of embankment, said an official.