Kuzhuppilly beach to have first floating bridge in Ernakulam district
The Hindu
Visitors to Kuzhuppilly beach in Vypeen will be able to use the first floating bridge in Ernakulam district in a week’s time. The T-shaped, three-metre-wide structure that cost ₹1.20 crore will protrude 100 metres into the sea and will be open to visitors between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. It is part of Kerala Tourism’s initiative to ready floating bridges in all nine districts that have a coastline.
Visitors to Kuzhuppilly beach in Vypeen will be able to use the first floating bridge in Ernakulam district in a week’s time.
The T-shaped, three-metre-wide structure that cost ₹1.20 crore will protrude 100 metres into the sea and will be open to visitors between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. It is part of Kerala Tourism’s initiative to ready floating bridges in all nine districts that have a coastline.
Sources in Ernakulam District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC), the implementing agency, said it would provide an impetus to beach-based adventure tourism activities. It will be the sixth floating bridge in Kerala, the others being at Beypore, Muzhappilangad, Bekal, Tanur and Chavakkad. Floating bridges will shortly be readied at beaches in Alappuzha, Thangassery and Kovalam.
On safety aspects of the structure, Binu Kuriakose, CEO of Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society, said that only up to 50 people would be permitted entry at a time. “There will be railings on both sides which they can hold. Trained lifeguards who have passed the watersports operator course will issue guidelines and also ensure safety of visitors, who, in turn, will be provided with life jackets. The floating structure, which can be boarded during low and high tide, will be out of bounds for visitors during extreme weather conditions,” he said.
The lifeguards will escort children and also adults who need assistance. Efforts were under way to ready the structure by October 20, he added.
The bridge will be assembled using approximately 1,000 high-density polyethylene blocks that are ISO-certified. They will rise and fall according to the intensity of the waves that lash the shore. A Mumbai-based firm will ready the structure on a build-operate-transfer basis, and ensure its upkeep for two years, it is learnt.
The project is part of Kerala Tourism’s beach-based adventure tourism activities, which were found to be inadequate in Kerala. Watersports activities at locales such as Munambam beach are already popular, while a project to host them from the Kochi International Marina in Bolghatty Island is yet to gain momentum.
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