Thiruvananthapuram: With a bad state of Shangumugham which caused a lot of troubled travel, the minister to transport Antony Raju directed officials to complete work within four months.
The minister visits the site here on Saturday and assesses the progress of construction.
The government allocated Rs 6.39 Crore under the ‘Rebuild Kerala Initiative’ for this project.
The minister directed officials to prepare estimates to extend the length of the diaphragm wall from 245 m to 330 meters.
He said the job was carried out with the most sophisticated technology and is expected to hold back strong waves.
At present the construction duration is six months.
Work has been postponed for months because the earth brought for transportation was swept away in coastal erosion.
Passengers who arrived at the airport had brought a burden of postponement of job completion.
They are forced to walk with heavy luggage for a pretty good distance until they can get a taxi or automatically to take them to their destination.
The coastal population also has their concern because this stretch is the main relationship between coastal villages and the city market.
When the Shangumugham airport road has been blocked for months due to damaged conditions, residents have been in protest mode.
Social activists represent the Shanghumugham Madhu Nair Airport Road Protection Committee and Elias John have held Satyagraha in front of the Secretariat on July 24 demanding the direct intervention of the state government in resolving problems.
The passengers, including pregnant women and children, must go down in Shangumugham and then walk far to the domestic terminal.
Because of the Covid situation, many people don’t even use automatic pedicabs.
Shangumugham residents are even being seized by medical care.
Access rejection also makes life difficult for the fishermen community.
Meanwhile, multiple walls were partly destroyed to make the way for staff in the cargo complex, said members of the committee.
They have submitted two demands; The road will be restored by the construction of the diaphragm wall along the coast or the road will be restored by acquiring some parts of the cargo complex and aligning it with old roads.
The project’s estimate must be revised in 2021, three years after the project was completed to recover the road-Shangumugham road which was severely damaged due to heavy monsone and strong coastal erosion.
The total project cost for the two-phase of the work has risen from the initial estimate of Rs 5.39 Crore to Rs 8.05 Crore.
The latest revision in estimates caused by a letter from Chief Engineer (Roads), PWD.
In accordance with the letter, the work was given to contractors in August 2020, however, as a result of heavy sea attacks on site, exploring and extended road damage to the midwayline.
The land under the road is completely eroded which requires traffic prohibitions along the way.
Because the sea waves reach the bottom of the road, it greatly affects the stability of the road.