Community group to oversee sea wall project.

In what is being touted as the first such 'experiment' for the ambitious Rs. 911-crore sea wall project, a community-based monitoring and liaison association, the Ullal Coastal Management Organisation (UCMO), will be created this month.

During a presentation to Minister of Health and Family Welfare and the local MLA U.T. Khader at Ullal recently, consultants for the Asian Development Bank-funded project said the organisation would be a key link between the implementing authority and the community to ensure unnecessary issues do not arise.

Nagaraj Bhat from the Mott MacDonald, which is a design consultant for the sea wall project, said in the short-term, UCMO would oversee the construction of sea wall across Ullal at a cost of Rs. 221 crore.

In the long-term, the organisation could exploit the tourism opportunities around the reefs and berms (shelves by the beach).

THE HINDU