Posted on August 3, 2017
By Bosco Dominique, The Times Of India
Alliance for good governance (AGG), a forum of eco-friendly organisations in Puducherry, has urged the Puducherry government to delink the beach restoration project and port development project.
In representations addressed to the lt governor Kiran Bedi, chief minister V Narayanasamy and chief secretary Manoj Parida, the forum charged that the port department has been diverting the loans and funds extended by Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) and other agencies for the beach restoration project and has been utilising the infrastructural facilities established for the beach restoration project for executing the port development project.
It said the National institute of ocean technology (Niot), in consultation with the Singapore-based Sanctuary Beach submitted a proposal to restore Puducherry’s lost beach. The project includes three components, first of which is to dredge three lakh cubic metres of sand from the harbour mouth and deposit the sand along the coast between the Gandhi Statue and new pier. Hudco extended Rs 14.15 crore loan declaring that the port department must strictly adhere to its conditions.
The second component includes construction of a near-shore submerged reef in front of the chief secretariat to support and stabilise the town’s severely eroded foundation. The third is to construct similar offshore reef in the south. The Union earth sciences ministry had come forward to extend funds for the second and third components.
The dredging corporation of India (DCI) was assigned for the dredging work. DCI deployed its cutter suction dredger ‘ID Ganga’ for the dredging operations. However, the dredger broke down several times, slowing down the work.
The port department, floated a parallel tender for dredging and awarded the contract to a private firm, ‘Marg Karaikal port’ to dredge 75,000 cubic metres of sand from harbour mouth at a cost of Rs 2.67 crore, carved out of Hudco’s loan.
Source: The Times Of India
