Sethusamudram project unviable: Experts

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to make aerial inspection of the controversial project today

Union surface transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari is set to undertake an aerial inspection of the controversial Sethusamudram Shipping Channel project, in the southern tip of Tamil Nadu, on November 4.

The minister would be reviewing some possible alternative channels through the Palk Strait, said sources.

The move has raised many eyebrows given the BJP's opposition to the project. However, the question is will the project make business sense?

Industry experts say the project would not be economically viable and environmental damages would also be high be it old or the proposed alignment.

The UPA government-appointed committee, headed by Rajendra K Pachauri, to look at an alternative alignment avoiding the sensitive Ramar Sethu stretch, too said "the basis of the analysis and the importance of observing a risk management approach, both in ecological as well as economic terms, it appears questionable whether Alignment 4A (east of Dhanushkodi) represents an attractive or even an acceptable option."

"Given the doubt raised by the detailed analysis which has been carried out, it is unlikely that the public interest would be served by pursuing the project on the basis of Alignment 4A," the 37-page report said.

Pon Venkatesh, former Trustee of VOC Port Trust (earlier Tuticorin Port Trust), which is the nodal agency for the project, too agrees. The Rs 2,400-crore project (according to 2012 estimate) will not help cargo movement (from west coast to east coast, mainly coal), cruise movement (to religious centres and to Colombo) and for defence, he adds.

The problem is the draft (depth) in the channel, which will be used by the ships. Going by the present proposal, the draft will be only seven metres. For the current generation vessels, the minimum draft requirement is around 14 metres. Even after dredging, this depth is not possible in the existing channel, says Venkatesh.

"If the channel opens with the seven-metre draft, then less than five per cent of the ships, which are currently calling at the Tuticorin Port, will use it and such a small number doesn't make any sense to make the project a commercial success," he adds.

The Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MCCI) had said the alternate channel (4A) was not viable, adding massive land cuts were needed to change the new alignments, which were proposed by the UPA government, to avoid the Sethu bridge.

While these alignments can give additional two-three metre extra depth, it would require continuous dredging and cost for the same would be too high.

J Krishnan, chairman, Expert Committee on Logistics, MCCI, echoes the same. The chamber had officially communicated the same to then (during UPA regime) Union shipping minister T R Baalu.

In 2008, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appointed a six-member committee, headed by Pachauri, to look at an alternative alignment avoiding the sensitive Ramar Sethu stretch.

In 2013, the committee released its report calling the project "unviable both from the economic as well as ecological angles". However, the government rejected the committee's report and decided to go ahead with the project in its present form.

The matter then went to the court and the Centre had to make its stand clear before the court.

Besides the economic viablity and ecological angles, the project also has a political angle.

While the ruling AIADMK is against it, its rival and former UPA's ally DMK is in favor of the project.

AIADMK supermo and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa had said the project would not benefit the people or the state but would affect the fishermen's livelihood and the environment.

She had said, even the ships belonging to the Poompuhar Shipping Corporation carrying coal to Tuticorin could not use the Sethusamudram channel while goods from Haldia port were mainly transported by road to other parts of the country.

She also alleged the project would help some of the DMK leaders.

The project involves digging a 44.9-nautical miles long deepwater channel linking the shallow Palk Strait with the Gulf of Mannar. It was originally conceived in early 1860s by Alfred Dundas Taylor, and on July 2, 2005, the Manmohan Singh-headed government inagurated the project.

Soon after, a few organisations started opposing it on religious, environmental and economical grounds, and stating it would cause damage to Adam's Bridge.