After shrinking shoreline and surging sea baffled many, Visakhapatnam Port Trust launched its annual exercise of beach nourishment by engaging a new dredger near RK Beach on Monday.
An annual feature since the construction of the Outer Harbour in 1970s, the port takes up the responsibility of beach nourishment by removing sediments collected in the Sand Trap built near the Dolphin’s Nose and breakwater area. Dredge-21, owned by Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), the Visakhapatnam-headquartered public sector, commenced its maiden operation by laying a floating pipeline.
“We have launched the exercise and are in the process of excavating two lakh cubic metres of sand from the Sand Trap and use it for beach nourishment,” DCI Chairman-cum-Managing Director Capt. D.K. Mohanty told The Hindu.
The project has been awarded to DCI by VPT for an amount of Rs.6 to Rs.7 crore. The nourishment project will be completed in three weeks. The trailing suction hopper dredger will also help nourish North West of Coast Battery due to strong currents. Visakhapatnam Port Deputy Chairman G.V.L. Satya Kumar said they would nourish based on the recommendation of the experts.
The unprecedented beach erosion, leading to a massive crater caused to the sidewalk on the beach road near the Kursura Museum sometime ago, had created a sensation in the city. Later VPT, GVMC, VUDA and AU decided to conduct a multi-disciplinary study by involving experts from IIT and other institutes to find the causes that led to erosion and initiate measures to arrest it.
