Restoration work is yet to begin on the Valiyathura pier that was declared off-limits to visitors more than a year ago after a portion of the adjoining land caved in due to coastal erosion.
Concrete blocks weighing four tonnes each have been stacked near the pier for reinforcing this section of the coast, but delays continue to plague the work. The Harbour Engineering Department attributes the problem to glitches in procuring rubble.
Seawall
“We have to pack the rubble and place the blocks atop it. The seaward end will be strengthened with a a seawall,” Anil Kumar, Chief Engineer, Harbour Engineering Department, says.
According to him, the department is hoping to complete the work before the onset of the southwest monsoon.Dozens of the concrete blocks have been stacked near the pier. The contract of the work is awarded to a Kochi-based company. The approach to the pier began caving in towards the end of 2016. By June 2017, the pier — which is more of a tourist attraction today — literally became stranded with the concrete pathway leading to it disappearing.The landward end of the pier also had been damaged when the region was devastated by waves. By then, the district administration declared the pier off-limits. Today, a small makeshift bridge has been rigged to provide access to the structure even though public entry is restricted. On either side of the pier and underneath it, large volumes of sand have been washed away.
CESS facility
With the work getting delayed, the fate of the nearby Field Research Facility of the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) also hangs in the balance. The facility has to be abandoned after waves washed away the foundation and a large section of the building.V.S. Sivakumar, MLA, says he has asked the state government to renovate the pier at the earliest. “We have also asked the government to ensure that seawalls are in place all along the coast before the monsoon,” Mr Sivakumar says.