Paradip, July 11: Construction of the state's first geo-synthetic tube sea wall project to tame the marauding sea is over, much to the relief of villagers in Kendrapara district.

The proposal for the project was mooted in 2008. It was commissioned under the World Bank-funded Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme to protect vulnerable villages from sea erosion. The deadline for the Rs 33-crore project was in June.

Pentha coast under Brahmansahi gram panchayat in Rajnagar tehsil of Kendrapara district was being constantly battered by marauding sea waves, prompting the state government to install geo-synthetic buffer on the embankment to arrest erosion.

"We are relieved. Te project has been in the making for the past decade. However, there was no sign of it being completed. Officials started expediting the project only over the past 18 months, because of which the construction has been completed. We are now feeling safe because of the protective seawall buffer," said Antarjami Nayak, a villager from Brahmanasahi.

Earlier, the seawall project had suffered a setback following the rupturing of one of the synthetic tubes due to the impact of sea waves. Experts had found loopholes in the installation process. Therefore, work was suspended midway in July last year following alleged lopsided installation of the synthetic tube.

The project, which envisages a 505-metre long wall consisting of 241 geo tubes, is now complete. The seawall is now successfully withstanding the onslaught of sea waves along the Pentha coast.

The construction was carried out under the technical expertise and guidance of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, said executive engineer, saline embankment division, Purna Chandra Rath.

One of the protective synthetic-tube structures had earlier ruptured. Later, the tubes were reinstalled under the supervision of IIT Chennai's experts. Odisha is the second state in the country to have undertaken such a project on a pilot basis after Andhra Pradesh, said Rath.