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Sethusamudram project viable: SCI

Gaurav Raghuvanshi

Navigation through the Palk Strait may become a reality soon. A techno-economic feasibility study by Shipping Corporation of India has established the viability of the Sethusamudram project, gathering dust for over 100 years.

According to the study, a canal could be opened for smaller vessels by the year-end by carrying out minimal dredging, Ports and Shipping Minister Vedprakash P Goyal told Business Standard.

To increase the draught to seven metres for a 800-metre wide channel Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) would be required, Goyal said. Total saving to shipping companies from the project was estimated at Rs 50-60 crore (Rs 500-600 million) annually, he added.

The ministry is studying the report submitted last week and is expected to seek Cabinet approval for the project soon.

“The project appears viable and the Centre is keen to promote coastal shipping,” the minister said.

A senior ministry official said the proposed dredging works would allow vessels of 300-400 TEU capacity to pass through and could be executed within the current year itself.

Meanwhile, the ministry was awaiting a project report from the Nagpur-based National Engineering and Environment Research Institute for a deeper navigation channel across the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka in the Bay of Bengal.

NEERI was also assessing the ecological impact of the project. The project envisages building of an all-weather shipping canal connecting Rameshwaram with Tuticorin that would encourage coastal shipping because vessels would no longer need to circuit around Sri Lanka to move from the eastern to western coast or vice versa, the official said. The channel would reduce travel time by nearly 36 hours, he added.

In the long run, Sethusamudram is expected to become an all-weather channel, like the Suez Canal, and would be positioned as an alternative shipping route to vessels travelling from the Gulf region to south-east Asia.

The channel could also be used for Indian transhipment cargo from the eastern coast once Vallarpadam hub becomes operational in two to three years. Colombo is interested in a road bridge across the Palk Strait.

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