[ad_1]
Old stone blocks and debris are being removed to construct layers of concrete blocks at site near Vivekananda rock Memorial.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In about four months, tourists may spend less time waiting in queues to take a trip to Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruvalluvar statue in Kanniyakumari. The Public Works Department is carrying out work to extend the passenger jetty at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial to reduce long queues of tourists.
The ₹20-crore project involves the challenging work of transporting and using concrete blocks weighing 11 tonnes each for construction of the passenger jetty. Passenger boats are the only means of transport to reach these tourists spots. Though Poompuhar Shipping Corporation had five boats, only two are being operated daily due to inadequate length of the jetty. PWD officials said work was on to extend the 37 metre long passenger jetty to 100 metre and also to increase the width to eight metres. This would help add three more boats to ferry a minimum of 450 passengers per trip.
PWD has executed about 30% of the project funded partly by Tamil Nadu Maritime Board and the Department of Ocean Technology, IIT Madras would monitor the project.
Officials said two barges were used to transport 10 concrete blocks per trip from Chinnamuttom fishing harbour to the construction site. About 30 blocks along with equipment were conveyed to the site daily.
K. P. Sathyamurthy, Engineer-in-Chief, PWD, said five to ten divers are involved in positioning layers of concrete blocks in the seabed up to a depth of 5.5 metre. With the help of GPS and sensors, including for wave current, divers will help place the blocks in the seabed. It is more challenging because of the uneven seabed and rough sea condition during the monsoon. About 1,500 concrete blocks would be used to construct the jetty and a 12-metre gabion box setup, which resembles a welded mesh wire cage, would be provided to tackle tidal impact.
[ad_2]
Source link
