Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Gabion wall to hold up road at Shanghumughom

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Public Works Department will construct a 100-metre-long gabion wall to prevent further damage to the sea-ravaged section of the road along Shanghumughom beach. The government has sanctioned Rs.15 lakhs for this interim, precautionary measure and the wall will be ready latest by June 15.

This was announced by Minister for Public Works Mons Joseph who inspected the damaged section of the road on Friday morning. The construction of the wall will begin on May 13. PVC-coated metal meshes will be filled with boulders and these cube-shaped ‘gabions’ will be arranged vertically and horizontally to form a wall.

The gabion wall will prevent the most severely damaged section of the road from being swept away during the monsoon season. “With the gabion wall in place, the road will only sit in the event of erosion. Then we can lay stones on top and still reconstruct the road,” Mr. Joseph explained to mediapersons. A Pune-based private firm would also supervise the construction of the wall, he added.

When the road originally got damaged, the plan was to execute an inter-departmental reconstruction project — a Rs.5 crore affair — that included beautification of the area. However, it was later determined that more time would be needed for this. Moreover, there were problems relating to “allocation of finance” for this scheme. It was in such a situation that the PWD decided to do what it could on an emergency basis. Executive engineer Chandrababu and assistant executive engineer Satheesh Babu of the PWD have been asked to monitor the construction of the wall. Additional funds would be allocated for this work, if necessary, Mr. Joseph added.

Thiruvananthapuram West MLA V. Surendran Pillai, PWD chief engineer P. K. Satheesan and Shanghumughom councillor Mary Viji were present during the Minister’s visit. Mr. Joseph also held a meeting with PWD officials on this issue at his office on Friday.

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