Posted on June 19, 2018
The stalled mechanical dredging of the Azhikkal Port channel here has resumed nearly a year after the much-awaited dredging work formally got under way in August last year when Ports Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran flagged off the operation of the cutter-suction dredger, CSD Chandragiri.
The operation of the dredger was to have begun after its formal inauguration nearly two years after it was brought here with much fanfare. It took another 10 months for the actual dredging to increase the depth of the basin and the channel to begin. The plan is to increase the depth of the channel by six metres for the full-fledged launch of coastal shipping services and cargo shipping to Lakshwadweep from here.
“The contract for dredging was awarded to a Kochi-based company through the State-owned Kerala Maritime Development Corporation (KMDC),” said Senior Ports Conservator Sudheer Kumar. Though the ?20-crore cutter-suction dredger and pipeline facilities had been arranged, effective dredging could not be carried out owing to the contractor’s failure to speed up work, he said.
As the delay in dredging paralysed cargo movement at the port, the contract was cancelled for ignoring the instructions of KMDC and the Ports Department, officials said. Dredging has now been taken over by KMDC directly, they added.
Officials exuded hope that the stalled cargo movement from the port could be resumed on completion of the first phase of dredging work by the start of the next shipping season beginning September 16. The Minister also took keen interest in getting the dredging work resumed, they said.
The full-fledged operation of the port has been hit by lack of periodical dredging of the channel. The average depth of the channel now is 3.5 metres. According to officials, the cutter-suction dredger can remove 2,500 to 3,000 cubic metres of sediment a day.
Source: The World News
