Voices of caution on SethuSamudram
First from Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, “150-year dream for 150-year old ships”
Excerpts:
“…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 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.
…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 Old general cargo vessels have been replaced by container ships, which started small but now exceed 35,000 DWT, and may soon touch 75,000 DWT.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.”
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Read in Full here http://www.swaminomics.org/articles/20070923.htm
The second from Ramaswamy R. Iyer, “Bridge over troubled debate“. Shri Iyer served as secretary of water resources in the Government of India.
Excerpts:
“…Let us start with the Ram Setu aspect as it has been the main subject of discussion.
The question is not whether Ram was a historical figure; or whether he built the bridge; or whether he or the monkey army could have built it; or whether indeed the feature in question is natural or man-made.
The crucial point is whether the site is sacred in the eyes of many people.
I am not sure of the answer to that question, but if it is ‘yes’, then that is a relevant factor in project-planning.
…If it is feasible to avoid touching the structure or feature in question (whether we call it Adam’s Bridge or Ram Setu or whatever), that would be the wisest course.
However, let us suppose that avoidance is not an available option, and that if the channel is to be built at all it will necessarily involve cutting across or otherwise damaging the ‘sacred’ feature.
Then the question will be: how important is the channel?
Some have suggested that the ‘national interest’ of all should prevail over the religious sentiment of some.
There are two questions here. First, avoiding possible trouble by refraining from injuring the feelings of a group of people may also be regarded as being in the national interest, in which case we have to balance one form of national interest against another. Second, we cannot readily assume that building the channel is in the national interest; that proposition has to be established.
…Prima facie, the project will have major ecological consequences. It is also likely to have an impact on the livelihoods of fisherfolk in the area…
…To cap it all, it has been stated that no big ship will use this channel; that they will continue to go round Sri Lanka; that only small coastal ships can use the channel; and that the channel will be economically non-viable.
If that were true, it would be a coup de grace: why incur financial, economic, social and ecological costs to build a project which is not going to be used, and which evidently no one wants?
…It is not being argued here that the answers to all the questions raised above are necessarily unfavourable to the project. However, these are relevant and important questions and we need authoritative answers.
The government may say that all these issues have been studied, that the answers are known, and that it was only after a detailed examination that the project that decision was taken. If that is the case, all that material should be put in the public domain for examination.
…therefore….stop work on the project, put all relevant material in the public domain, allow a public debate, and then review the project in the light of the comments received.”
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Read in full here: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/220328.html
Related Posts:
The search for a historical “Rama”
Comrades-in-arms: UPA & Pakistani “militants”
Suggested Reading: “Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project - by Shri Sundara Krishnaswamy
Mint ran a special series on this issue and basically trashed the project. Here are the links
http://www.livemint.com/UserControls/2007/09/11001954/Silence-controversy-shroud-Se.html
http://www.livemint.com/2007/09/11235121/Project-a-recipe-for-disaster.html
http://www.livemint.com/2007/09/12235537/No-one-benefits-from-a-Rs2600.html
There was also a series on newsinsight.com. Scientists seem to agree that the project is a stupid idea for reasons related to the environment and feasibility. The whole idea seems like a concoction by T R Baalu and his DMK cohorts to just make some money while in power. The spineless central government just keeps nodding its head to anything these guys come up with.
Comment by Prakash | September 27, 2007
Prakash - Thanks for the links. I will have a look at them during the weekend.
You are right - there is a lot more than meets the eye behind the project..
Comment by B Shantanu | September 29, 2007
Shantanu - There was also a series on the sethusamudram project on newsinsight.com. From all reports (excluding anything published by the government ofcourse), the project is impractical.
The drama is still continuing in TN. After all the verbal garbage, the DMK decides to call a bandh. How ironic is that the ruling party calls a bandh for a project that it is pushing through? Bandhs have completely lost their meaning. Atleast the supreme court was able to call the bluff.
Comment by Prakash | October 1, 2007
Prakash: “How ironic is that the ruling party calls a bandh for a project that it is pushing through?” - That was brilliant!!
Comment by B Shantanu | October 3, 2007
“Project documents claim that the canal will save ships 36 hours of time and 570 nautical miles of distance.”
Is saving all that matters? Are other factors to be totally ignored?
Any tailor will tell you that stitching sleeveless shirts and half trousers will save us about a metre of clothing material. So why not cut off our hands at the shoulders and legs at the knees? That could do wonders for our economy. But the question is, ” Is it worth it?”
This is the sort of thinking our TN politicians have. Little do they realize that they are cutting the branch on which they are perched.
The multi-crore project might fetch a fat commission to the senile politician and his cronies. But their children and grand children might not survive to enjoy the loot because of the calamity and destruction that might follow.
This mental myopia is the result of greed. It is high time UPA realized that DMK and CPM are rotten eggs. If Congress Party continues to carry them on its shoulders, they too are bound to stink. No one likes to be near anything that stinks.
Comment by Nandan | October 4, 2007
The whole UPA-Left is rotten eggs. Who filed the “Ram doesn’t exist” affidavit in the SC? It is the Congress. Congress under a foreigner clan is the biggest enemy of the nation and Hindus. This clan is destroying the nation like a slow poison. And name-sake HIndus working for her as collaborators, as same name-sake HIndus worked for Mughals and British.
If Congress and its President filed the affidavit without knowledge, why they couldn’t come out openly and say sorry to the crores of Hindus? Instead, Italian lady told Karunanidhi to join hands to crush the Hindus (her only communal forces).
Bharat to have a real democracy this anti-hindu dynastic Congress have to go. I would rather support commie to destroy this Italian Congress, main enemy of Bharat and Hindus. I would follow “Enemies enemy is my friend” strategy.
Comment by Bharat | October 4, 2007
Sites for info on Rama Setu.
http://www.petitiononline.com/ramsetu/petition.html
Save Sri Ram Setu Petition to President of Bharat. Please sign and forward to others. Our battle must continue till anti-hindu Congress-led Govt of Bharat completely stop work.
http://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/religious/ramsetu/
http://ramasetu.org/ramasetu/index.php
Rameswaram Ram Setu Protection Movement
http://www.ramsethu.org/
Save Ram Setu site.
http://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/religious/ramsetu/
Scientists intensify anti-Sethu project stir
K Gopalakrishnan, S Badrinarayanan and K S Subramanian, three retired directors general of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), are supporting the movement’s initiative and have opposed the canal project.
read more on website.
http://content.msn.co.in/News/National/NationalIANS_010907_1106.htm
Be very careful when you read wikipedia website, there are lots of mis- and dis-infomation about Hindu dharma and Bharat/India. They are typical western-run websites, with prejudices against India and Hindus.
Comment by Bharat | October 4, 2007
http://www.livemint.com/2007/10/26234927/Alternative-Nfuel-mired-in-Se.html
This is another interesting perspective on the sethu project: its impact on thorium reserves and relationship to the india-us nuclear deal. Congress and DMK seem to be on the same page on this one.
Comment by Prakash | October 29, 2007
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Namsthe,
I have this thought to share about the ‘Ram sethu’.
I think when RAMA and his army came to cross over to Lanka they found an irregular land bridge of rocky projections and sand bars. They must have used a
system of chain link to fill in the gaps using rocks ,
boulders and sand bags to buid a temporary crossing.
This I think is akin to the theory that about 10,000 years
ago humans crossed over from Asia to north America
over the Bering straits.
This I think atheists can accept if they accept Rama as
atleast a historical figure.
About Romila Thapar and R.S.Sharma and their ilk, these are the kind of people who would sell their country to prove a point.
Hinduism is the oldest surviving religion and I am sure
will be ther for millenia.
Comment by KAKUMANI | November 16, 2007
Mosque in Kolkata blocks airport …. did someone say Ram Setu ??
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Kolkata-airport-Map-redrawn-land-to-be-acquired-highrises-trimmed-to-save-mosque/317195/
Kolkata airport: Map redrawn, land to be acquired, high-rises trimmed to save mosque by Mouparna Bandyopadhyay
Sunday , June 01, 2008
Kolkata, May 31 Development runs deep—but devotion runs deeper. So an ancient mosque on a tiny patch of 1,200 square feet of land right next to a runway has forced a redrawing of the entire Rs 2,000-crore map to upgrade Kolkata airport.
An extra 25,000 square metres has to be acquired, crores have to be spent on building a detour and several high-rise buildings have to be compensated because they have to knock off their top floors in line with the new plan.
…The Kolkata airport has two runways: the main runway, 3,627m, that carries bulk of the air traffic, and a shorter one, 2,399 m, which is inadequate to service large aircraft, and so needs to be extended by another 440 m to the north.
But this is exactly where the 117-year old Bankra mosque — where on an average 30 people offer prayers each day under tight security — lies, less than 100 feet from the north end of the shorter runway, Also, the walls of the mosque cannot withstand vibrations caused by aircraft landing or taking off.
“We have tried to negotiate with the masjid committee numerous times. We have also tried to give them land outside the port and offered to create a replica of the masjid elsewhere but to no avail,” says SPS Bakshi, Director (Projects), Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Result: the Airports Authority of India has decided to extend the runway towards the southern side.
“This means we have to lease out more than 25,000 square metres of land to the state government for the diversion,” says another official of he AAI. The AAI will spend Rs 2 crore and the state government will provide Rs 3 crore. Also, an existing road, running from Kaikhali to Narayanpur (Rajarhat) will need to be diverted.
Then there is the issue of a new taxiway that needs to be constructed joining the northern end of both the runways. The taxiway needs to be at least 30 m wide to allow for wingspan of aircraft like A-380. As per the blueprint, the taxiway will intersect with the barb-wired path leading to the mosque. This poses a security threat and to circumvent it, a new path leading to the mosque has to be constructed. This, in all probability, will be a subway and will mean an extra Rs 20 crore, say officials.
…That’s not all. Aviation regulations have height restrictions for buildings within 10 km of the runway. The extension of the runway to the south to keep the mosque intact means that multi-storeyed buildings that were permitted in the adjacent Rajarhat area, will now need to lose some of their top floors. “This will require us to pay compensation amounting to crores, we are working this out,” said a senior AAI official. A mapping of the area is being done to identify which structures have to be trimmed accordingly.
Comment by Prakasarao Velagapudi | June 19, 2008