BHUBANESWAR : A day after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sought Central assistance for building a storm surge resilient embankment along the Odisha coast as a long-term measure to make the State disaster proof, the Water Resources department on Saturday said a detailed project report is being prepared to further strengthen the saline embankments.
Chief Engineer of Water Resources Jyotirmaya Rath said construction of 380-km saline embankment will be taken up in the first phase at a cost of `1,944 crore. The embankments will be strengthened with stone packing and creating storm surge barriers like massive plantation on the entire coastline. In the second phase, the remaining portion of the existing 1,680 km embankments will be fortified.
The entire project is estimated to cost around Rs 7,000 crore, he said adding, the objective is to check ingress of high tides during severe cyclonic storm. Rath said the 52-km saline embankment in Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam districts, constructed between 2013 and 2016 at a cost of Rs 135 crore, is still intact.
The Chief Minister during a review meeting on cyclone Yaas impact by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday had sought Central assistance for preparing a cyclone resilient power infrastructure and storm surge resilient barriers on the coast. “Had a very productive review meeting in Bhubaneswar. We will continue working together to strengthen disaster management capabilities, an area where Odisha has made commendable strides,” the PM tweeted.