A total of 19 seawalls will be constructed for 19 communities around the country by the Ministry of Waterways and Environment in the 2020/2021 financial year.
Minister for Waterways and Environment Dr Mahendra Reddy says the construction works on various coastal protection projects will commence soon in the Northern, Western and Eastern Divisions.
He says these projects will help build resilience for coastal communities on the impact of climate-induced coastal erosion, storm surge, and coastal flooding.
Dr Reddy reiterated that the project will be done through a nature-based solution that will be protected by the nature-based boulder-seawall, with multiple rows of mangroves as the “first line of defence” to the boulder seawall, while diffusing wave energy, and the vetiver grass as a “last line of defence” to protect the land from erosion and inundation, during the storm surge
He says to address and mitigate these, they need cost-effective solutions adding they need an integrated solution involving a hybrid of “grey-green” infrastructure, and inclining towards nature-based solutions in years ahead.
Dr Reddy adds the solutions lie in nature itself and innovations, if implemented, will bring diverse and natural features and processes to address our environmental problem, through locally adapted, resource-efficient, and systemic interventions.
He said the project will be constructed within the 12 months’ time while similar projects will be done in other villages which are not in the list after the current project is completed.
The 19 nature-based seawalls across the country are divided into three divisions – 8 for the Northern Division, 4 in the Western division and 6 in the Maritime areas.
