Sethu Samudram ship canal project

[kannan infratech]

Originally Posted by Fusionist

How about rail connectivity between Sri Lanka and India across the Palk Strait ( Channel Tunnel style lol ) ? Both countries already have a rail network to the land's tip, so its all about connecting 30-35 kms. Colombo-Mannar-Madurai-Trichy-Chennai and a Colombo-Madurai -Bangalore- Mumbai would be profitable routes ? if the same line is used by freight rails ( maybe in a decades time ) . But then I am just dreaming.. lol

I can dream more than that. How about a single bridge with two tiers - one for the railroad and another for road. The railroad will have 2 lines - one as dedicated freight corridor and another a passenger line. Boom! The economy will take quantum leap.

[mhp]

Adam's Bridge report submitted

The overall completion of the Sethusamudram Ship Canal project currently stands at around 33 per cent, a senior official of Sethusamudram Corporation Ltd, the project implementing agency, told Projectmonitor.

[voryaa]

actually instead of one continuous bridge, i think a better idea would be to have two bridges linking through a tunnel. something like "The Chesapeake Bay Bridge" in virginia. That way ships can cross above the tunnel part.

[Fusionist]

Originally Posted by kannan infratech

I can dream more than that. How about a single bridge with two tiers - one for the railroad and another for road. The railroad will have 2 lines - one as dedicated freight corridor and another a passenger line. Boom! The economy will take quantum leap.

I don't think an overhead route would ever be considered as it would clash with the shipping canal route.

[Subra]

http://www.business-standard.com/com...eft=1&leftnm=3


The Congress-led Centre appears to have caved into pressure from its southern ally, the DMK, on the issue of the Sethu Samudram canal project.

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs(CCPA) met today to deliberate the affidavit to be presented to the Supreme Court on the issue in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). Its verdict: Agree to a changed alignment for the canal and ask for permission to start dredging operations in the area.

The approval, however, was not without protests. According to top Congress sources, Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni disagreed with the draft affidavit saying the government should instead ask for more time from the court. Soni, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal and Law Minister Hansraj Bharadwaj were special invitees to the meeting.

Soni’s ministry was at the centre of a controversy when an affidavit by her ministry said that since there was no Lord Ram, Adam’s bridge, a coral reef between India and Sri Lanka, could not have been man-made. This created a storm and the government was forced to withdraw the affidavit. The matter has been hanging fire since.

The Congress is in no hurry over the project, which is mainly being pushed by the DMK. Therefore, the decision to approve an affidavit means aome fresh pressure has been brought to bear on the government.

“The previous solution being pondered over by the government was to refer the matter to an experts committee to buy time, but this seems to have been shelved,” said a top source in the Congress.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who presided over the meeting, has asked the members of the CCPA to firm up their opinions for a final meeting on the issue on Thursday.

[Prodigist]

I remember reading an article on the Sethusamudram project by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar of "Swaminomics" fame, a leading columnist about how economically unfeasible this idea is considering the fact that large amount of dredging is required to protect the project after its completion and also the environmental damage that it might cause..... DMK might have overlooked these consequences....... This argument should in no way be linked to "Tamil Pride"

[kannan infratech]

Originally Posted by Prodigist

I remember reading an article on the Sethusamudram project by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar of "Swaminomics" fame, a leading columnist about how economically unfeasible this idea is considering the fact that large amount of dredging is required to protect the project after its completion and also the environmental damage that it might cause..... DMK might have overlooked these consequences....... This argument should in no way be linked to "Tamil Pride"

Perennial Dredging is the major attraction for those who advocate this project.

[Leo_r]

Originally Posted by Prodigist

I remember reading an article on the Sethusamudram project by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar of "Swaminomics" fame, a leading columnist about how economically unfeasible this idea is considering the fact that large amount of dredging is required to protect the project after its completion and also the environmental damage that it might cause..... DMK might have overlooked these consequences....... This argument should in no way be linked to "Tamil Pride"

Pl read the editorial written by Mr Swaminathan A ,Aiyer...

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/2019960.cms

[Prodigist]

Originally Posted by Leo_r

Pl read the editorial written by Mr Swaminathan A ,Aiyer...

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/2019960.cms

This wasnt the editorial written by Swaminathan Aiyar... You are only trying to hoodwink people on this forum.Swaminathans name wasnt written anywhere on that page...

This is the link to his column... http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/O...ow/2393766.cms

[Prodigist]

SWAMINOMICS
150-year dream for 150-year old ships
23 Sep 2007, 0000 hrs IST,Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar

Religion and history do not mix well. I shrug my shoulders at those opposing the Sethusamunda-ram canal because it will damage the remains of the bridge that Ram’s army used in the Ramayana.

Now, i too oppose the canal, but on economic and environmental grounds. Its rationale is more political than economic. It will become one more public sector white elephant.

The Palk Straits, between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, are so shallow that only small boats can pass through. So, east-west coastal ships have to go around Sri Lanka. So do ships from Europe and Africa to the east coast.

Sethusamundaram will be a furrow dredged in the sea-bed of the Straits, deep enough to accommodate ships of 20,000 DWT. The canal will save ships both distance (saving fuel) and time (saving daily charges for chartering ships). So, it should be able to charge ships for passage, like the Suez and Panama Canals. This revenue is supposed to make the project economic.

The project is a political gift for Tamil Nadu. It will hugely help Tuticorin port, which today can receive ships only from the west, and not the east. It will improve the viability of existing and planned minor ports in the state. Hence, Tamils call the canal a 150-year dream about to come true (it was first proposed around 1850).

Dreams are costless, but canals are not. Project documents claim that the canal will save ships 36 hours of time and 570 nautical miles of distance. But a recent study by Jacob John in Economic and Political Weekly exposes these claims as highly exaggerated. Up to 70% of the traffic through the canal is projected to come from Europe and Africa. And John estimates that the time saving from Europe to Kolkata will be only eight hours, and the distance saving 215 nautical miles. From Africa to Kolkata, the time taken will actually increase by 3.5 hours (being piloted through the canal is a slow process), and distance reduced will be only 70 nautical miles.

John calculates that ships could lose up to $4,992 per passage if they are charged the tariff laid down in project documents. In which case ships will find it cheaper to go round Sri Lanka. If the government cuts the proposed tariff to attract traffic, John estimates that the project’s rate of return could fall to an uneconomic 2.5%. I expect that the project will also suffer cost overruns in capital and maintenance dredging, and hence be in the red.

The canal is supposed to be ready by November 2008, not far off. So why has the project not been able to sign up potential users? The finance minister has appealed to private shipping companies to participate in a project that will benefit them, yet no shipping company has come forward. The economics of the canal look much too dicey.

The Suez and Panama Canals save ships thousands of miles, and that makes them profitable. Sethusamundaram is not remotely comparable. It is designed for small ships (the project documents talk of 20,000 DWT), whereas the Panama Canal takes ships of up to 65,000 DWT and Suez takes ships up to 150,000 DWT.

The Suez and Panama canals were dug through land corridors, and once dug stayed dug - they did not face sand inundation from the sea. However, Sethusamundaram will be a furrow in the sea-bed, at the constant mercy of currents bearing sand.

The government’s environmental assessment has cleared the project on ecological grounds. Yet, much of that assessment was not about sand incursion, but about fears of possible damage to coral reefs, coastal erosion, oil spills, and changes in ocean salinity and temperature. Besides, the ecological studies were done from the Indian side of the Palk Straits, and not the Sri Lankan side, and so are technically incomplete.

My own major fear is not so much that the project will ruin the environment, but that the environment will ruin the project. I fear that ocean currents will keep dumping fresh sand in the furrow of the canal. The Palk Straits are shallow not by accident but because sand-bearing currents have made them so. Combating the full force of nature is perilous, expensive and sometimes impossible.

The project envisages maintenance dredging of two million cubic metres per year, infinitely more than required by the Suez and Panama canals. Jacob suspects (and so do i) that actual maintenance dredging will far exceed project projections, rendering the canal uneconomic. An extreme event (like the 2005 tsunami) could dump enough sand to close down the canal.

Finally, global shipping is shifting to ever-larger vessels. Bulk carriers and tankers often exceed 200,000 DWT, and those under 60,000 DWT are being phased out as uneconomic. Old general cargo vessels have been replaced by container ships, which started small but now exceed 35,000 DWT, and may soon touch 75,000 DWT. Such vessels cannot use the canal.

So, Sethusamundaram will be unsuitable for the large vessels of the 21st century. It is a 150-year old idea for 150-year old ships. That may be its epitaph.

[qwertyasd]

i agree with this article. I dont think this project should be taken up. Instead of spending on sethu samudram, i would say - spend on ports.

[madurai veeran]

New Delhi (PTI): Overcoming differences, the government on Thursday firmed up an affidavit on Sethusamudram project to be filed in the Supreme Court.

The 90-page affidavit, which will seek vacation of stay on the controversial project, was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.

The CCPA, headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Energy Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Culture Minister Ambika Soni, Law Minister HR Bhardwaj and Shipping Minister TR Baalu among others.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0802281310.htm

[Leo_r]

Originally Posted by Prodigist

You are only trying to hoodwink people on this forum.Swaminathans name wasnt written anywhere on that page...

If I am correct, Mr Swaminathan is the Chief Editor of 'The Economic Times'. Editorials are written by the Chief Editor and never carry the name of the author.

[JD]

It's someone named Rahul Joshi. Editor of The Economic Times web edition is Sumit Gulati. Swaminathan once was the editor of the newspaper.

[Raj_network]

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/11/stor...1161780300.htm

[Silicon_Valley]

If you see the Suez and the Panama canal on a map and trace the route that the ships take when not using them, you can visually see the gigantic savings these canals are making to the transit distance. Compare that to this project and we can see a lot of sense in the article posted in one of the recent posts.

[Leo_r]

Seven minor ports - part of Tamil Nadu vision plan...

Addressing the CII TN Vision Summit -2025 , The Tamil Nadu Govt announced that the State Government has initiated the process of bringing in private investments for the minor ports, which are to come up at Cheyyur, Marakannam, Manappad, Thirukuvallai, Cuddalore, Thirukadaiyur, and Ennore

These ports will be developed by private companies.

Cheyyur - Marg Construction
Marakanam - Apollo Hospitals Group
Manapadu - Mohan
Thirukuvalai - Prabhakaran
Cuddalore - Nagarjuna
Thirukadaiyur - Trident
Ennore - L & T

The Minister just repeated my forecast earlier in this thread that after Gujarat, TN will have lots of Minor ports developed by Pvt Companies to bring in Coal from Australia and Indonesia to cater to 50000 MW merchant Power Plants that are in the offing. All the power will be sold to States in need in INDIA.

Do we need to complete the Shipping Channel early or not? Let their Mind rule the people of India. I don't have any problem in renaming the canal as "RAMAR Shipping Channel"

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...1350940300.htm

[cbeboy]

Palk Bay of Sethu project ready to handle vessels of 10 m draft


The Palk Bay of the Sethusamudram Ship Channel project is ready to handle vessels of 10 m draft with dredging of 10.73 m achieved in April in this location.

In other words, vessels up to 30,000 dwt (dead weight tonnes) can now navigate from Chennai up to the coast of Rameswaram, says a Chennai Port Trust press release.

DCI engaged a survey launch (Taurus) of Geo Star Surveys India to conduct a sea-bed survey from April 4 to ascertain the depth of the channel in this 54 km stretch, where at present six trailing suction hopper dredgers are at work.

The initial report shows that as against the planned channel depth of 12 m and 300 m width, the depth varies from 10 to 11 m with an average of 10.73 m. This is for the initial 18 km stretch. For the remaining 36 km of Palk Bay portion the depth varies from 10.75 m to -11.3 m, the release says.

The Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project envisages dredging of a ship channel across the Palk straits between India and Sri Lanka. The project will allow ships sailing between the east and west costs of India to have a straight passage through India’s territorial waters instead of having to circumvent Sri Lanka. This will lead to a saving of up to 424 nautical miles (780 km) and up to to 30 hours in sailing time.

Two channels will be created — one across north of Adam’s Bridge (the chain of islets and shallows linking India with Sri Lanka) south-ast of Pamban Island and another through the shallows of Palk Bay, deepening the Palk straits. The total length of these two channels would be 89 km.

[madurai veeran]

CHENNAI: Dredger 17 with a 10.5-metre draft is set to sail from Chennai to Rameswaram by the month-end, following the successful dredging of a 54-km initial stretch in the Palk Bay for the Sethusamudram project, Chennai Port Trust chairman K. Suresh said Monday.

Talking to reporters here, Mr. Suresh, who also holds the additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director of the Sethusamudram Corporation Ltd., said the 167-km canal comprised three segments.

Dredging of the initial portion up to 10.73-metre depth was completed, and the balance 1.27-metre depth would be completed by June-end. Dredging for the further length of 78 km was not required, as the depth in this area was in excess of 12 metres. Work on the 35-km Adam’s Bridge portion remained suspended since September 2007 following a Supreme Court order, he said.

Mr. Suresh said the Dredging Corporation of India engaged the M V Taurus, of Geo Star Surveys, on April 4 to conduct a seabed survey on the Palk Bay stretch to ascertain the depth. Currently, six Trailing Suction Hopper Dredgers were at work.

The initial report revealed that as against the planned depth of 12 metres and width of 300 metres, the depth varied from 10 to 11 metres with an average of 10.73 metres for the first 18 km. For the remaining 36 km, it varied from 10.75 to 11.3 metres.

“This indicates that the dredging has been successfully carried out by the DCI”, he said.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/15/stor...1560490900.htm

[Silicon_Valley]

Read more here : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/I...ow/2952736.cms

The Supreme Court on Tuesday posted for April 29 the hearing on the Centre's plea to go ahead with the Sethusamudram project.

The Centre had on February 29 filed a fresh affidavit in the apex court seeking clearance to go ahead with the Sethusamudram project on the same alignment saying issues of faith cannot be resolved through scientific evidence.

The 60-page affidavit cleared by the Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs (CCPA), which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had said that the opposition to the project which started two years back was "misconceived" and "unsubstantiated" and the court should "refrain from interdicting"..............