Strategic significance for security

The importance of having a continuous navigable sea route around the peninsula within India’s territorial waters is beyond contention.

The Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) may go down in the subcontinent’s history as one of the oldest schemes ever implemented when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lays the foundation on July 2.

The delay in realising the 145-year-old dream of Tamil Nadu has only enhanced the strategic significance of the project.

While there remain claims and counter-claims about some aspects of the SSCP, which got the nod of the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in May, the importance of having a continuous navigable sea route around the peninsula within India’s territorial waters is beyond contention.

The key benefit of the nearly Rs. 2,428-crore project will be savings in precious fuel and sailing time for cargo ships, besides the significance for national defence and security.

Now vessels from the east to west coast and vice-versa are sailing around Sri Lanka, as there is a submerged reef - Adam’s Bridge - near Rameswaram between the southeastern coast of India and Talaimanar in Sri Lanka. The Sethusamudram project envisages dredging of a ship channel in the shallow portion of the sea to connect the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal through the Palk Bay.

The proposed channel will save up to a distance of 424 nautical miles (about 785 km) and 30 hours of sailing time. This will translate into lower fuel consumption and less expenditure on chartering ships. According to the Centre’s projections, the saving in fuel cost will vary from $ 1,712 to $ 4,177 for 100 to 500 DWT vessels.

Foreign exchange savings of up to Rs. 215 crores are estimated in the first year of operation of the project. The Sethusamudram project will have a strategic value for national security. The channel will reduce the response time of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard vessels. It is planned that the 167-km channel will have a width of 300 metres at the seabed level. The project will facilitate increased patrolling by defence vessels around the peninsula.

The strategic benefits to Tamil Nadu include the possibility of development of a minor port in the south as a container hub. As a corollary to the likely increase in maritime trade and ship traffic, there will be all-round progress in trade and industry.