Web of Life

NEW DELHI, November 1- India said today that the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) will not cause any damage either to the marine life or the coral reefs in the region where it is proposed to be built.

In a full-page advertisement published in leading newspapers across the country today, the Indian Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways and the Tuticorin Port Trust (the nodal agency for implementing the project) sought to clear apprehensions at home and in Sri Lanka that the SSCP may turn out to be an ecological disaster.

The advertisement points out that, though blessed with 6,083km-long coastline, India does not have a continuous navigable route around the peninsula within her own territorial waters because of Adam’s Bridge, a shallow patch at Pamban, where the average navigable depth is only about three metres.

As a result, all the ships from India’s west coast to the east coast and from Tuticorin Port in Tamil Nadu to the east coast have to go round Sri Lanka.

This means each ship has to cover an additional distance of more than 254 to 424 nautical miles and spend 21 to 36 hours of additional sailing time. As a result, last year alone, India’s export-import trade incurred an additional expenditure of about US$ 222 million in foreign exchange in transhipment of Indian cargo outside the country.

The Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) has conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study of the SSCP for the Tuticorin Port Trust. The study suggested a channel linking the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar through Adam’s Bridge.

The SSCP has been conceived to create a navigation channel from the Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal through the Gulf of Mannar, Adam’s Bridge, the Palk Bay and the Palk Strait within the Indian waters.

The idea is to create a 20-km navigation channel, 12-metre deep and 300-metre wide, by dredging the sea-bed at Adam’s Bridge and some stretches of the Palk Bay and the Palk Strait. The channel will utilize the natural depth already available in the Gulf of Mannar and other stretches of the Palk Bay and the Palk Strait.

The channel proposal was first mooted way back in 1860, and there have been 14 more during the 144 years since then. The ambitious project will cost $444 million and take three years to complete. When ready, it will provide a shorter navigation route between Kanyakumari and Tuticorin and other east coast ports of Chennai, Ennore, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Paradip, Haldia, Kolkata, and ports in neighbouring countries such as Chittagong (Bangladesh).

The SSCP will also lead to the rapid development of existing minor ports of Pondicherry, Cuddalore and Nagapattinam as well as a new minor port in Ramanathapuram. In turn, this will help coastal and international maritime trade in Tamil Nadu to flourish.

An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 ships are expected to sail through the channel in the first year of its operation, or six to nine transits a day. The channel’s proposed depth will impose restrictions on the size of ships that will be transiting. While the channel will earn profits from its very first year of operation, it will recover the capital invested in 25 years and generate mammoth profits thereafter.

Studies have shown that movement of sediment along the proposed channel alignment is small: maintenance dredging requirement of 0.5 million cubic metres per year. This is negligible when compared to the quantum of maintenance dredging in some of the Indian ports.

The creation of the channel does not envisage any dredging in the Gulf of Mannar, except in the southern reaches of Adam’s Bridge for a length of about six km and width of 300 metres. Thus, no dredging will be required in the Gulf of Manner Marine Biosphere Reserve along the Indian coast, or in its vicinity.

The proposed dredging location in Adam’s Bridge is about 20km from the nearest island (shingle) forming part of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park. Experts say this is more than safe distance from the coral reefs, which abet the 21 islands situated within a distance of only a few kilometres off the Indian coast.

The coral reefs are the breeding ground for fish for the entire Gulf of Mannar and the mangroves off Vedaranyam on the Indian coast for some varieties of fish. Since the channel is at least 20km away, dredging and shipping operations will have no adverse impact on either the coral reefs or the mangroves, the advertisement adds.

Scientific evidence obtained through mathematical modelling and tracer studies does not support the possibility of sedimentation moving from either the dredging or dumping locations towards the Indian or Sri Lankan coast.

Sophisticated Trailer Suction Hopper Dredgers (TSHDs) and Cutter Suction

Dredgers will be used to keep turbidity levels low in dredging locations.

Modelling studies in the Gulf of Mannar have also shown that, being 25km away from the Indian and Sri Lankan coasts, the disposed dredged material will not move towards either coast. The plume surfaces only after 1.5km with insignificant density and, thus, primary productivity in the area will not be affected. Therefore, the apprehension of damage to coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar has no scientific basis, the official advertisement declares.

Referring to fears that fishermen may be displaced in large numbers in Rameswaram and other coastal areas, the government says there is no such possibility even on a small scale. However, if any are displaced, the SSCP will meet the entire coast of their relocation and rehabilitation, it promises.

"From Adam’s Bridge to the Bay of Bengal, the navigation channel will have a length of about 152km. Of this, 78km has the required depth of about 12 metres. And about 15km of the 54km Palk Bay/Palk Strait also has an average natural depth of 11.6 metres. This means that dredging operations will have to be carried out only in 20km of Adam’s Bridge and 39km in the Palk Strait.

Since the project will be completed in 36 months, dredging will be done over 1.67km every month. And fishing will not be allowed only in the area where dredging is in progress. Thus, in any given month, only one per cent of the total length of the proposed channel will not be available for fishing.

During the operation stage, the channel will have lighted fairway buoys to mark the channel for shipping operations. The project authorities have decided to give unlimited access to fishing craft through the channel without obstructing shipping operations. However, fishermen will not be in a position to cast their nets in the channel because it is primarily meant for navigation. In terms of area, this means about one per cent of the total area of the Palk Bay.

The advertisement says that developing a navigation channel is similar to building a highway, and adds that the SSCP will contribute to the national economy, develop the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, and improve the international competitiveness of India’s exports.