After a gap of nearly a year, work on erecting geotextile tubes as shore protection structures in Chellanam panchayat will resume any time now with the contract for the project being awarded to a Kochi-based company on the basis of negotiated quotation.
A senior official of the Irrigation Department said here on Monday that work order for the project would be placed soon after the quotation was settled through negotiation. Since there were no takers for the sea wall project when tenders were floated, the work was awarded on the basis of negotiation, the official added.
The project involves erecting sea walls using geotextile tubes filled with sand along the Velankanni, Companyppadi, Vachakkal and Bazaar coast to prevent sea incursion.
The four coastal stretches have been identified as the most vulnerable in Chellanam panchayat and the areas have been regularly battered by rough seas during high tide and heavy rains. The situation had become more dangerous for the more than 30 families along the coast in the panchayat after Cyclone Ockhi hit the shores in December 2017. Since then efforts have been under way to erect a sea wall as a shore proection measure. However, the lack of availability of conventional granite boulders prompted the authorities to look for new ideas. Use of geotextile tubes filled with sand for establishing several stretches of sea wall was suggested as an alternative.
Paschima Kochi Theera Samrakshana Samiti has been demanding immediate action. V. Jinson, a member of the Samiti, said the contractor had not been able to complete the work and the award was cancelled to be re-tendered again. The Samiti hopes the work will complete before the next rainy season sets in.
