29.6.10

Two foreign firms pitch for Puducherry beach revamp

Two foreign firms specialising in restoring eroding beaches to their ‘original’ glory have expressed interest in reviving the Puducherry beach. New Zealand-based ASR Limited, which has successfully restored Kovalam beach in Kerala with soft engineering solutions like multi-purpose reefs, has advocated a similar solution to arrest sea erosion in Puducherry. Dr Joseph Mathew of ASR, who presented the proposal at a meeting chaired by officials of departments of science technology and environment, port, public works and town and country planning recently, highlighted the features of the eco-friendly technique. Dr Mathew advocated creation of an artificial reef, which helps in moving sediments towards the shore and accumulating sand along the coast. He pointed out that the firm successfully restored Kovalam beach in February using the technique for preventing sea erosion and increasing the beach sediment levels. Director (Institute of Ocean Management) of Anna University Prof Ramesh Ramachandran and experts from the National Institute of Ocean Technology, who attended the meeting, underlined the importance of arriving at ‘soft’ solutions to protect beaches and coastal villages. The meeting resolved to enlighten the government, non-governmental organisations and general public on the importance of protecting and nourishing the coast of Puducherry. In April, the French Consulate had invited directors of a French company, Stabiplage, to investigate and explore various measures to protect the Puducherry coastline in an environment-friendly manner. The French team which visited Puducherry had elaborate discussions with senior officials. Their technology is based on stabilizing the coastline without stopping the free movement of sand and involves the use of geo-tubes — big cloth tubes filled with sand — to arrest coastal erosion and reclaim the lost beach. The firm has successfully executed the technique along eroded coastlines in Africa, Vietnam and France. The experts strongly disapproved the use of groynes in arresting sea erosion. “The coral reef or geo-tubes stabilize the coastline and do not prevent free flow of sand along the coast while groynes, which though stabilize the coastline, prevent the free flow of sand. Moreover, groynes are impermeable and waves rebound leading to further damage of the coastline while coral reef or geo-tubes are permeable and absorb water leaving sand behind leading to accumulation of sand along the coast,” said Aurofilio Schiavina, an expert on coastal zone management based in Puducherry.

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