THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After lying idle for many years, renovation of the historic Varkala tunnel as part of making Thiruvananthapuram-Kollam waterways navigable has gained some momentum.
The state government has sanctioned Rs 16 crore for the renovation of the tunnel and 12.7-km stretch of the waterway from Anjengo to Nadayara which includes two tunnels built 130 years back. E-tender will be invited soon and the project is scheduled to be completed in 18 months.
The main tunnel near Sivagiri is 722-metre long and the second one 350-metre and they were major bottlenecks in extending the Kollam-Kottappuram national waterway up to Kovalam.
Though serious efforts were made by the previous LDF government to revive it, the work did not progress much due to paucity of funds.Even then Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan had personally inspected the tunnel. “We plan to carry out maintenance of the internal lining of the tunnel and dredging activities. Widening the tunnel is not possible,” irrigation department sources said.
The government gave technical sanction for the project following strong pressure from local representatives.
