The Hindu Business Line : A canal that's more than a waterway

According to an L&T Ramboll report, between 1860 and 1922 as many as nine proposals were formulated for cutting a canal across the narrow strip of land mostly through the Rameswaram island to connect the Gulf of Mannar with Palk Bay.

The Union Minister for Shipping , Mr T.R. Baalu, released the logo of Sethusamudram Corporation Ltd in Madurai recently.

THE Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project has been talked about for almost a century-and-a-half as an economic necessity for India's maritime trade. However, it is only now that the project is seeing some progress with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, scheduled to lay the foundation stone for this multi-crore project on July 2 in Madurai.

The Rs 2,427-crore project, which got the Cabinet approval on May 19 will connect the Bay of Bengal to the Gulf of Mannar through a dredged channel on either side of the Palk Bay. The project is set to reduce the steaming distance between the country's east and west coasts and improve navigation within the territorial waters of India.

With a peninsular coast of 3,554 nautical miles, the country has enjoyed maritime trade with various countries since time immemorial. Also, shipping trade between the country's east and west coasts has prevailed over a long time.

But there is no continuous navigation channel connecting the east and west coasts. Currently, the ships coming from the country's west coast and other western countries bound for the east coast of India and also in Bangladesh and China have to navigate around the Sri Lanka coast. The existing waterway is shallow and not sufficient for the movement of ships. This is due to the presence of a reef, known as Adams Bridge, located southeast of Rameswaram near Pamban, which connects the Talaimannar coast of Sri Lanka.

The project has been under demand by various cross-sections of the society, including maritime industry, public and administrators. According to a report prepared by L&T Ramboll, between 1860 and 1922, as many as nine proposals were formulated for cutting a canal across the narrow strip of land mostly through the Rameswaram island to connect the Gulf of Mannar with Palk Bay.

Commander Taylor of the Indian Marine made the earliest proposal in 1860. In his paper, he advocated cutting a canal across the Torritorai Peninsula at a place about 12 miles west of Pamban Pass. It was then estimated to cost £90,000, but further enquiries brought the estimate up to £1,500,000. Owing to the large expense involved and the extra work to be done in comparison with a canal across Island of Rameswaram, the scheme was not seriously considered.

Post-independence, a Sethusamudram Project Committee headed by Sir A. Ramaswamy Mudaliar was set up in 1956 and it contemplated a 26-feet draft land canal crossing the main land at Mandapam. The Pallavan Transport Consultancy Services submitted a report in 1996 and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute gave a report in 2002.

In its detailed project report, L&T-Ramboll Consulting Engineers, Chennai, had recommended that 10 m draft vessels pass through the SSCP channel. Even though the worldwide trend indicates the preference for building larger vessels, there has been an increase of about 5 per cent annually in the number of vessels of size up to 30,000 DWT (dead weight tonnes) during the last 20 years.

Also, with this draft restriction of 10 m in the SSCP, there could be a growth in number of ships specially built for the purpose of passing through SSCP, may be called `SETHU MAX', similar to vessels being built like Panamax or Suezmax vessels after the development of Panama and Suez canals.

From the vessel size analysis, all vessels up to 20,000 DWT, about 75 per cent of 30,000 DWT, 10 per cent of vessels up to 40,000 DWT and 5 per cent of vessels up to 50,000 DWT, and all empty vessels will fall in this category and can pass through SSCP.

The dredging quantity estimation is done taking sections at every 100 m interval and integrating over the length of segment. Based on the model studies report, it is estimated the maintenance dredging to be 2 million cu.m in the first year, reduction to 1.4 million cu.m in 5 years and remaining constant thereafter.

The Palk Strait area is divided into two sections depending on the distance to the dumping spot in Bay of Bengal (one with average lead of 60 km and the other with average lead of 40 km) where dredging will be carried out using TSHD.

The dredged materials from Adam's Bridge area is proposed to be dumped offshore into sea in the Gulf of Mannar at a location of 20-30 m natural depth within Indian territorial waters. The dumping location is assessed to be 25-30 km away from Adam's Bridge. The entire quantity of dredged material from Adam's Bridge can be dumped at this site. As an option, about 8 million cu.m is proposed to be used for degraded areas in Pamban island. The dredged material from Palk Strait is proposed to be dumped offshore in Bay of Bengal area at about 25-30 m depth, the L&T Ramboll report suggested.

The dredging quantity of 82.5 million cu m in a length of 167 km would go on for three years.

Sethusamudram Corporation Ltd, a special purpose vehicle created to implement the project, is expected to start making profit from the 13th year of the canal's operation, the Union Shipping Minister, Mr T.R Baalu, recently told newspersons in Chennai. There will not be any negative impact of the project. There will, however, be some inconveniences during the implementation, he said.

Mr N.K. Raghupathy, Chairman of Tuticorin Port Trust, the nodal agency for developing the project, and also for Sethusamudram Corporation, said 3,055 vessels would pass through the canal in 2008.

A detailed vessels size analysis has been carried out and typical dimensions of the design vessel sizes have been given in the table.Financial feasibility is a key determinant in a business-oriented investment decision.

A project will attract investors only if the project generates sufficient revenues during the project life to cover the initial and additional investment costs, if any, plus a sufficient return on investment.

The debt-equity ratio is assumed at 1.5:1 and the total project cost (including financing cost of Rs 194.4 crore) works out to Rs 2,427.4 crore, according to L&T Ramboll report.

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