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The Government recently cleared the long-pending, Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) fulfilling a promise contained in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). Work on the Rs. 2427.40 crore mega scheme started on July 02, 2005.
The SSCP, being described as the Suez of the East, promises to offer India immense economic and strategic assets. To be implemented over a period of three and a half years, the ambitious project had to wait for more than a century because of issues ranging from environment to economic feasibility. Though environmentalists were skeptical about the project feasibility, the Indian government has eventually addressed all ‘environmental concerns’ raised by some quarters, including Sri Lanka that lies close to the project site.
Colombo had said that dredging of millions of cubic metres in the Palk Strait close to Sri Lanka would pose a danger to several islets in the country. Sri Lanka’s concerns were accentuated by the last December’s Tsunami that devastated vast areas in the island nation. As the Indian Shipping and Transport Minister, Shri T R Baalu, has pointed out, the channel would “act as a protection against any possible tsunami”.
Presently, ships from the east coast of India to the west coast have to circumnavigate Sri Lanka. This is because of a Sand Stone Reef called Adam’s bridge, at Pamban, near Rameswaram, where the depth of the sea is hardly 11 feet. Mythology has it that Hanuman and his monkey army constructed the passage, now called Adam’s Bridge, between the mainland and “Lanka” to enable Lord Ram and his troops to travel to Lanka to fight the forces of demon king Ravana and free Sita.
The highly complex project envisages dredging of a ship channel in the shallow portion of the sea to link the Gulf of Mannar and Bay of Bengal through Palk Bay. It involves dredging of some 12 to 13 million cubic metres. The Sethu canal, when completed, will save up to 424 nautical miles (one nautical mile is equivalent to 1.852 km) of distance and up to 30 hours of sailing time for ships sailing between east and west coast.
A ‘special purpose vehicle’ called the Sethusamudaram Corporation Limited with a debt equity ratio of 1.5:1, will implement the project. The Central Government will bear the bulk of the equity at Rs. 495 crores, followed by the Tuticorin Port Trust and Shipping Corporation of India (Rs. 50 crores each), and Dredging Corporation of India, Chennai Port Trust, Ennore Port Limited, Visakhapatnam Port Trust and Paradip Port Trust (Rs. 30 crores each).
The balance equity of Rs. 226 crores would be raised through means such as public issue, private placement and user charges. The Central Government will provide guarantee for the domestic and foreign debt raised for the project and give the Corporation an interest free non-plan loan of Rs. 390.05 crores. The PSUs and port trusts — the other equity partners in the project — will provide a loan of Rs. 374.75 crores in proportion to their equity holding to offset the negative cash flow of the Corporation during the first nine years of operation, beginning 2009-10.
The Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) was originally conceived in 1860 by the British Commander A.D. Taylor of the Indian Marines. A 1955 Government-constituted Project Committee favoured the canal project to be linked to the Tuticorin Harbour Project and that both be undertaken simultaneously. The cost of the joint project was estimated at Rs 9.98 crore. In 1963, the government sanctioned only the Tuticorin project. Successive committees revised the cost of the project upwards. In 1994, the Tamil Nadu government revised the project cost to Rs 760 crore.
The project proposes linking the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar on the east coast of India by creating a shipping channel through Rameswaram Island, which would provide a continuous navigable sea route around the Indian Peninsula.
After the channel is constructed, the distance between Cape Comorin and Chennai would be reduced to 402 nautical miles from the present 755. Further, the channel would considerably reduce the distance between the east and the west coasts with travelling time coming down by 36 hours. It will also avoid circumnavigation of ships around Sri Lanka, thereby resulting in savings in fuel costs and standing charges associated with extra period of voyages. The channel would help make coastal shipping operations from the east coast to the west coast and vice-versa more competitive.
The greatest beneficiary of the project will be Tuticorin harbour, which has the potential to transform into a transshipment hub such as those in Singapore and Colombo. The project will also help in the development of the proposed 13 minor ports in Tamil Nadu.
Shri N.K. Raghupathy, Chairman of Sethusamudram Corporation Limited, says genuine concerns of fishing community and environmentalists had been addressed through proper design of the channel. It has been decided to spend Rs.60 crore from the project cost on local area development. Those who oppose the Sethusamudram project should adduce scientific facts and should not go by “half-baked ideas” and “misconceived notions,” says Raghupathy.
The environment management plan prepared by the NEERI would be implemented in letter and in spirit. The NEERI went into the issue of disturbances to mangroves at Muthupettai, wildlife and the bird sanctuary at Vedaranyam and concluded that the project would not affect these environmentally sensitive areas. For, the flow of water current would not change. The NEERI says if the proposed route was taken there would not be any environment problem and that the 21 national marine parks would be safe.
Apart from the commercial aspect, the Sethusamudram channel will improve tremendously the power projection capabilities of the Indian armed forces, not only in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal but also deep into the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic ice fields. It will make possible the quick transfer of warships and personnel between the Southern Naval Command at Cochin and the Eastern Naval Command at Vishakhapatnam as well as the Coastguard installations on both Indian seaboards. Tactically, it means India will be able to undertake any interdiction mission within 1000 km of its coastline at short notice in both attack and defence formations, say experts.
*Freelance Writer
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