The Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) has engaged the Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL) to undertake nourishment of the eroded areas on the beach near INS Kursura Museum at a cost of ₹15 crore.

DCI, which has already deployed Dredge 16 and laid a pipeline to collect deposits from the ‘sand trap’ created by the port near Dolphin’s Nose, will launch the annual nourishment project from Friday.

“This year, eroded stretch will be nourished with 3 lakh cubic metres of sand. Erosion is occurring prominently due to establishment of Kursura Museum on the beach-front whereas the incidence is less comparatively on other stretches on the 30-km Beach Road between Visakhapatnam and Bheemunipatnam,” VPT Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu said.

Concrete jungle

The beach stretch has been witnessing caving in of road and sidewalks since the last five years due to severe erosion of the coast and environmentalists attribute it to the mushrooming concrete jungle and violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) guidelines.

The VPT has been spending huge amounts on beach nourishment since the construction of the Outer Harbour in 1979.

The breakwater formed near the fishing harbour by placing ship wreckage has been causing erosion to some extent. The construction of another port nearby is also stated to be one of the reasons for the erosion, a former scientist of National Institute of Oceanography pointed out.

Pipeline system

After the government formed a high-power committee to address the problem, Deltares, a Dutch-based independent agency, recommended discontinuation of nourishment through rainbow method and introduction of pipeline system to collect excess sand and fill the vulnerable areas with it and formation of geo-synthetic mesh and installation of underwater dykes.

The VPT found that both options along with the suggestion to bring sand from other areas are expensive and pipeline method is more cost-effective.