KENDRAPARA: Work on the much-delayed Odisha’s first geo-synthetic tube sea wall at Pentha village has finally started.
The project has been commissioned under the World Bank-funded Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme to protect villages from sea erosion in Rajnagar block of the district.
The geo-tube seawall barrier embankment’s height would run up to 7.4 metre. As tidal surge rises up to five metre during cyclonic storm, the seawall would be able to withstand it. While length of the embankment would be 675 metre, the plinth of the seawall would be of three-metre depth.
“According to the technical plans, geo-tubes made up of high-grade rexin and filled with sand would be put in place at the Pentha embankment. The sand filled rexin bags would act as protective barrier against tidal waves. It would absorb the tidal ingress, salinity contents and sodium chloride contents in seawater and would stop the erosion of embankment,” said Executive Engineer, Coastal Embankment Division, Jugal Kishore Tripathy.
Prior to commencement of work, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, had deputed oceanographic experts to study the Pentha beach profile, morphology of the eroded beach, intensity, frequency and velocity of the waves and moisture contents of sandy particles.
The project is being implemented at the cost of `32.85 crore and work is scheduled to be completed by July 2015. t’s foundation stone was laid by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2008, but technical modification of the project plan and delay in floating of global tender led to the delay in implementation. This resulted in project cost escalation from the initial estimate of `15 crore to `32.85 crore now.
A Pune-based farm, which was awarded the project under global tender bidding process, is carrying out the work for which, the IIT-Chennai is extending the technical support. Work is being carried out under the supervision of ICZMP engineers and Coastal Embankment division of Odisha Government.
The sea at Pentha village has already consumed 10 acres of land and houses of 65 villagers within the last one decade. Though the State Government had constructed a stone-packed sea wall three years back at Pentha, all the stones were washed away in tidal waves.