Valiyathura pier to be developed as tourist spot

Thiruvananthapuram: A team of officials from the IIT Chennai will visit Valiyathura pier as part of the efforts by the Kerala Maritime Board (KMB) to develop it as a tourist destination.
The state government has accorded administrative sanction for Rs 64 lakh for conducting a study on Valiyathura and Thalassery piers. It is expected that funds for the renovation of the piers as per the study reports will be allocated in the next budget.
The KMB is planning to start small cruise ships off Valiyathura after the renovation works of the pier gets over. It is also learned that the renovation works can be started only if ‘strength approval’ is given by the IIT expert team. The team will assess its strength, possibilities of renovation, its durability, safety of the public, etc. as part of the study.
Once the pier is renovated, a small park is also planned to be constructed close to the pier to attract tourists.
The 214-m pier, which was constructed in 1956, was damaged by the Ockhi cyclone in 2017 and later by Tauktae cyclone in 2020.
The middle portion of the iconic structure became weak as its pillars got damaged in the cyclones.
In 2020, the harbour engineering department and the KMB had planned to develop the structure with the help of IIT-Palakkad. But nothing was done to save the six-decade-old pier. Visitors’ entry to the pier have been banned for the past two years.
“We are planning to make it an attractive tourist destination after renovating it. An expert team from the oceanography department of the IIT will conduct a study on the possible ways to restore it. Depending on the outcome of the study, an action plan will be formed for renovating it,” said KMB chief executive officer T P Salim Kumar.
A couple of years ago, the Cochin University of Science and Technology had carried out a study for renovating it. But the study found that renovation and restoration of the pier was not economically viable.