With most of the civil works being completed and a storm water drain regularised, the new beach coming up at Lawson’s Bay is now set for development of greenery.
With shoots from tiny shrubs greeting visitors amid the well-laid pathway and mounds of earth on the incomplete parking lot, the beachfront is yet to be spruced up, readied and opened. Major work of regularising the drain was completed. Prior to that the entire stretch up to the sea was like a pond.
Work on diverting the sullage from the storm water drain to a sump and from there to Appu Ghar sewage treatment plant is yet to begin.
As a part of developing the beach, the cremation ground nearby has been given a facelift and compound wall constructed.
Community toilets are being constructed to check open defecation.
Though the work began three years ago, cyclone Hudhud brought everything to a standstill. Subsequently, officials indicated that the work would be completed by May 2015. Of the Rs.13 crore of the estimated cost, so far Rs.10 crore has been spent on the civil works. It is learnt that at least another Rs. 2 crore is required to ready the beach.
The beach development has been taken up with Visakhapatnam Port Trust funding 51 per cent cash component payable by it to GVMC.
Horticulture work
With ground cover shrubs planted a fortnight ago, the horticulture work has hardly begun. It is expected to stretch up to November. However, with the International Fleet Review approaching, the beach is expected to be ready by then.
Of the five acres land on which the beach is being developed, 2.75 to 3 acres is earmarked for greenery.
The execution is handicapped by lack of a landscaping consultant, it is learnt.
