Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan will inaugurate construction of a sea wall at Pozhiyoor, a coastal village in the Neyyattinkara constituency of Thiruvananthapuram district, on September 22. Tucked along the state's southern coastline, Pozhiyoor and its neighbouring hamlet Kollamcode have long depended on fishing, with the state highway running close to the shore, a stretch now marked out for one of the region's more significant coastal infrastructure investments in recent years. The inauguration marks the start of a Rs 93.22 crore coastal protection and development project, Water Resources Minister Mons Joseph said.
What the project involves
The project will be implemented under the supervision of the Kerala Irrigation Infrastructure Development Corporation, with funding drawn from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). It covers a 1,700-metre stretch of coastline and combines a conventional sea wall with breakwater structures made of tetrapods, four-legged concrete units commonly used to absorb and break the force of incoming waves before they reach the shore. The specific design, pairing the sea wall with tetrapod breakwaters, was arrived at based on suggestions from coastal residents as well as technical experts, according to Minister Joseph.
The Rs 93.22 crore outlay covers the full scope of construction along the 1,700-metre stretch, positioning it as a comprehensive rather than piecemeal intervention. The stated aim being a lasting fix rather than periodic patchwork repairs to the shoreline.
The erosion problem and how the project came about
Pozhiyoor and Kollamcode have faced sea erosion for years, with intense wave action damaging the coast and the nearby state highway, and creating hardship for more than 3,000 fishing families and other residents in the area. The scale of the affected population, running into thousands of households, has kept the issue on the local political agenda for some time.
Momentum for the current project built after the UDF government took office following the 2026 assembly elections, when residents submitted a petition seeking a permanent solution. The petition was addressed to Chief Minister Satheesan, Minister Joseph, Fisheries Minister V E Abdul Gafoor and area MLA N Shakthan, reflecting the range of state and constituency-level representatives involved in taking the project from petition to sanctioned budget. The government's subsequent decision to approve the Rs 93.22 crore allocation followed this representation from the affected community.
What comes next
With the inauguration set for September 22, construction work on the sea wall and breakwater system is expected to begin shortly after. Officials have said the completed project is expected to significantly reduce coastal erosion in the Pozhiyoor and Kollamcode areas, offering protection to both residential areas and the state highway that runs along the coast. No official completion timeline has been announced alongside the inauguration date.
The project adds to a broader pattern of coastal infrastructure spending in Kerala in recent years, as the state continues to grapple with erosion along its roughly 590-km coastline — Pozhiyoor itself also lies at the starting point of the state's separate, much larger Thiruvananthapuram–Kasaragod Coastal Highway project, though the two are distinct initiatives with different scopes and funding sources.
