THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute director Dominik H Lang reached the state on Thursday. The visit is a follow-up to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s consultation at the institute during his recent foreign tour.
On the day, Lang visited Anakkampoil, Marippuzha, the starting point of the proposed Wayanad tunnel project. He will hold further discussions with the government officers concerned in the coming days. A team of officers led by Planning Board member K Ravi Raman and Namasivayam V was present. They included Santhosh V, chief vision perspective planning, Sekhar Kuriakose, member secretary, State Disaster Management Authority, Beerendra Kumar, deputy chief engineer, Konkan Railway, Viswaprakash, superintending engineer, Hashim, executive engineer, Midun, assistant executive engineer. The Wayanad twin tunnel project aims to connect Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board had sanctioned Rs 2140 crore for the 8-km-long tunnel project. The NGI is already associated with the tunnel projects of Indian Railways.
Lang will visit areas affected by coastal erosion in Thiruvananthapuram. The state had sought NGI’s assistance to prevent coastal erosion.
A visit to the Varkala tunnel, a part of the national waterway project, has also been scheduled. He will hold discussions with the chief minister and higher officials on the programmes in which the state had sought the support of NGI.