The installation of geotubes as part of a breakwater project to protect the Poonthura coast from sea erosion will be completed in a time-bound manner, Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian has said.
He was speaking after a visit to Poonthura along with Transport Minister Antony Raju on Friday. The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) has set aside ₹150 crore for the offshore breakwater project to protect the coast stretching from Poonthura to Valiyathura.
An amount of ₹19 crore has been set aside for protecting 700 metres of coast in the Poonthura area. Synthetic geotubes of 15 metre diameter and filled with sand are arranged in three rows under the sea and parallel to the coast, at a distance of 80-125 metres from the coast.
Geotubes are now being installed on an experimental basis 125 metres off the coast of Poonthura. The length of each breakwater unit has been fixed as 100 metre and the distance between each has been fixed as 50 metre. Three geotubes have been installed till now.
Mr. Cherian said that if the project at Poonthura was found to be a success, it would be replicated along the coast till Shanghumughom, an area which had been bearing the brunt of sea erosion for the past few years. Quite a few families had to shift from this region after the waves destroyed their homes. He said that the government had in the past six years spent ₹11,500 crore for coastal development, out of which ₹7,000 crore had been spent on protecting the coast. The reduction in use of rocks for coastal protection would also help the environment. The geotubes would also help in maintaining the ecosystem for fishes to breed.
Mr. Raju said that the aim was to complete the trial run before March this year. The success of the project could be gauged only if the work was completed before the onset of the monsoon. More machinery and workers would be deployed soon to speed up the work. Barges of 1000 tonne capacity, dredgers, scuba diving setups, and rugs had been arranged as part of the work. The Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation was implementing the project with the technical support of the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology.
