Sethusamudram project | Security concerns | Environmental issue

ONE-SIDED: The Sethusamudram project has now taken the shape of a political pot-boiler.

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New Delhi: The Sethusamudram Project was originally conceived by a British commander of the Indian Marine, A D Taylor, in 1860. And while he may have been inspired by the Suez Canal at that time, nearly one and a half centuries later, India's decision to revive his abandoned dream project will have very little similarity to the vastly profitable Suez Canal or Panama Canal.

At least that's what this study done by a group of researchers led by Jacob John and Sudarshan Rodriguez claims.

"What we find is that the project has based its economic rationale only on distance saved for coastal shipping which is the highest which is 22 hours and the time saved is 22 hours,” said senior research associate Sudarshan Rodriguez from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment.

But Rodriguez says for ships coming from Europe and Africa, the time saved is only 30 per cent of what is claimed by the project. From Aden time saved is just 8-12 hours. From Mauritius ships will actually lose time.

"The tariff for this project is based on the savings from,” said Rodriguez.

Coastal shipping saying that 50 per cent of time saved will be the tariff charged. So for a vessel which is around 20,000 Dead Weight Tons (DWT) we find that the savings by using the canal will be around $18,000.

“So ideally tariff then would be $9000. However the savings for a ship coming from Aden is only $4000. So if a ship from Aden is using the canal they are losing $5000,” said Rodriguez.

This study also found that 70 per cent of shipping traffic in the Indian Ocean are big shipping vessels like oil tankers and bulk carriers. So it becomes next to impossible for them to navigate this narrow channel.

Captain Balakrishnan, a retired Indian Navy frigate commander who's done a parallel study says that ships would go around Sri Lanka rather than have to go through a canal with draught restrictions and with a need for a pilot to embark and disembark from the ship.

“LTTE factor is also worrying. As a mariner I wouldn't want my ships to run the risk of piracy,” said Retired Indian Navy Frigate Commander, Captain Balakrishnan.

Clearly the project seems to have got its arithmetic all wrong. While the Sethusamudram project has now taken the shape of a political pot-boiler, it's the real issues of economics and environment that are being completely compromised.

“The details of the project are transparent: how was the cost-benefit ratio arrived at, how is the money going to be spent and the RTI should be applied to every paisa spent on this project, then we can judge,” said historian Ramchandra Guha.

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