Extension of Passenger Jetty Using Interconnected Concrete Block and Gabion Boxes at Vivekendhar Rock Memorial Kanyakumari India

Kanyakumari is coastal town which is the southernmost tip of India (8° 04′ 42.93″ N and 77° 33′ 17.55″ E). Kanyakumari is one of the most popular tourist attraction of India known for its scenic sunrise, sunset and also for the two offshore iconic structures namely Vivekananda Rock memorial and Thiruvalluvar Statue. These iconic structures were built over existing offshore rocks in the year 1970 and 2000 respectively. These structures are individual structures 400 m apart and located 500 m from Kanyakumari coast. At Vivekanadha rock memorial tourist experience the preaching of Swami Vivekanadha and are also attracted towards the serenity that they get in the meditation hall located on Vivekananda rock. Thiruvalluvar Statue lies adjacent to Vivekanadha rock which is a 133-feet (40.6 m) tall stone sculpture of the Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar, author of the Thirukkural, an ancient Indian work on secular ethics and morality. More than 20 lakhs tourists visit these two attractions every year and it is expected that this number will grow in upcoming years. The tourists can reach the Vivekananda rock memorial and Thiruvalluvar statue only by passenger boats which are operating by M/s Poompuhar Shipping Corporation Limited (PSC). They own three passenger ferry which can carry 150 passengers per boat per trip. In a day they are ferrying about 10,000 passengers. There are berths at each rock for boarding and deboarding of passengers. The length of the jetty length are 35 respectively. The ferries are 21 m long, 6.3 m wide and with a loaded draft of 1.8 m. Since the jetty at Vivekananda rock is only 37 m long, it is possible for only one boat to be berthed at a time and this is causing idling of two ferry at sea and also long queue to passengers at the rock jetty as well as at the shore jetty. This long queue is turning down many tourists to visit these rocks due to the long waiting time. Tamil Nadu Maritime Board had appointed Dept. of ocean Engineering, IIT Madras to explore the possibility of extending the passenger jetty at Vivekananda Rock so that two more vessels can be berthed thereby increasing the number of ferry services and thus making space for more people to visit the Vivekananda rock without much waiting time.