Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

The Setu channel, also Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, is an Indian project to build a waterway through the Riffbogen referred to as Adam's Bridge between India and Sri Lanka.

Geography

Between India and Sri Lanka is the shallow Palk Strait and an island and Riffbogen that begins in India with a pointed peninsula and continues on the island of Pamban, which in turn shows in a long spur to the referred to as Adam's Bridge chain of islands and coral reefs. The Adam's Bridge ends in Sri Lanka in the Mannar Island, which is separated only by a narrow and shallow channel of the main island of Sri Lanka. The Adam's Bridge can possibly be passed from the small fishing boats. Small coastal vessels without high superstructures can drive through the Palk Strait and the Pamaban passage between the island of Pamban and mainland India, for which, however, the Pamban railway bridge to be opened. Larger ocean-going vessels must take the road south to Sri Lanka around. For the shipping of an Indian coast to the other passage would mean by the Palk Strait, a significant reduction. For vessels from the Suez Canal or from the Persian / Arabian Gulf shortening would be less significant. The traffic from East Asia would not be affected.

The project

The idea to build the Setu channel comes from the British Commander Alfred Dundas Taylor, it struck in 1860 the construction of a waterway between India and Ceylon to shorten the sea route between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea to 424 nautical miles. During the next 140 years numerous variants have been studied, such as a canal through the peninsula or by the Pamban passage or by the Pamban island. 1999 again raised plan on the part of the Indian military was again brought out and developed in the next seven years to feasible project. It was approved by the government and inaugurated on 2 July 2005 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The construction

The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project provides a total of 167 km long and 300 meters wide, 14.5 meters deep waterway with two fairways along the Indian peninsula to connect the Indian east and west coasts by a navigable waterway. The future channel will allow ships with 290 meters long, 33 meters wide, 12.8 meters draft and a load capacity of about 65,000 tons of the passage. The fairway runs from the western Gulf of Mannar by the Setu Samudram called shallow waters between India and Sri Lanka to the northern Palkbucht. The coral reefs in the Adam's Bridge ( Indian, Ram Sethu ) are cut and greatly deepen the shipping channel in the Palkbucht.

About 82.5 million cubic meters of sediment have to be moved over a distance of 83 kilometers in two phases in detail. On the 54 km long northern route between Kodiyakkarai and Manalmelkudi in Palkbucht about 35.5 million cubic meters to be dredged in the southern section between Tuticorin and Kodiyakkarai 48 million cubic meters of dredged material to be removed. The northern phase of construction in the Palkbucht verschlickt by the monsoon rainy season every year and will therefore require continuous maintenance dredging. The cost of the project was estimated at around 550 million U.S. dollars.

Criticism and resistance

From various groups of construction of the canal is criticized also actively fought in part. The main points of criticism are the ecological risks, the economic and political implications, and the violation of the religious feelings of a portion of the involved population.

The National Environment Engineering Research Institute in Nagpur approved the numerous environmental dangers associated with construction of the shipping lane. These arise from the unresolved consequences of large-scale change in the hydro-morphology of the sea area. The channel changed, for example, the flow conditions of the previous shallow water zone. An indirect consequence of this could be the unpredictable effect on the wave formation of future tsunamis. In the tsunami of 26 December 2004, the sea area acted as a brake in the rear, ocean circulation flowing waters around Sri Lanka. Also unclear is how to deal with the large amounts of dredged material. The application of the dredged material in the Palkbucht could be triggered by the water turbidity problems, for example, alone. A proposal for solving this problem is the artificial mound islands on the Indian coast.

Sri Lanka is threatened by the channel its economic interests. In addition, 1976 was agreed in the negotiations on demarcation between India and Sri Lanka, to dispense with the construction of a canal. Also a threat to the future ship traffic by Sri Lankan rebels is conceivable.

Domestically, the construction of the canal of various Indian parties and groups is used as an instrument. This issue overlaps with the religion-based demand to not cut the Adam's Bridge. The project was brought before the Supreme Court of India, the damage to the Adam's Bridge banned in a preliminary decision ( to ban without the other dredging), the final decision but has yet ( as of January 2010). Meanwhile, the estimated costs have increased significantly and the financing commitments expired.