A 17.5 km long seawall is currently under-construction in Odisha’s Kendrapara district. The Odisha seawall, funded by the World Bank, is aimed at providing protection to vulnerable seaside pockets in the region.
The total cost of this project is Rs. 42 crores and has been sanctioned under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Programme. While a 14 km-long seawall is coming up at Praharajpur Chashisabha area in Rajnagar tehsil, a 3.5 km-long seawall is under construction in Sasanpeta gram panchayat.
Recently, a team from the World Bank inspected the construction sites and expressed satisfaction over the quality as well as progress of the work. Nearly 90% of the work is completed and the project is expected to be finished in the next two months or so.
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Once completed, this seawall will protect more than a dozen villages in extremely vulnerable seaside areas. The height of the seawall is likely to be 20 feet. During cyclonic storms in the region, tidal surge reaches a height of 10 to 12 feet. In order to bring down the force of wave energy, galvanized metallic gab-ion boxes have been placed inside the seawall.
As of now, villages in the region are shielded by saline embankments (six feet in height) which aren’t enough. Thus, ingress of tidal waves and sea erosion are major problems across seaside settlements here. Upon completion, the seawall will safeguard densely populated areas from the scourge of tidal upsurge, in a stretch of 22 km.
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