Comments on: Sethusamudram Project: Can Sri Lanka Speak?

By: Pujitha

Pujitha — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:56:35 +0000

Required information is not available here……..

By: A.Rajasingam

A.Rajasingam — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:47:07 +0000

In addition to what I have stated the consequences of the possible impact of the dredging of this Palk Strait affecting Sri Lanka. Since it has become a controversial project, given the facts of the impact of dredging the sea bed whether it is soft or hard. It is matter for the Indian scientists to determine. Though the dredging of the canal is within the territorial sea of India, the manner of dredging the sea bed would affect the coastal areas of Mannar is another matter of concern. This is something like affecting the right of servitude of Sri Lanka resulting in the further erosion of the western coast of North Sri Lanka. It is on this basis Sri Lanka can raise its voice. Otherwise Sri Lanka has no voice in this matter. The drilling operations for oil off the coast of Mannar by the Russians on the Mannar coast should also have been paid more attention on this aspect. Again there is another question to be determined. The area to be dredged is supposed to be sandy hills close to Thanuskody and as such, what about the possibility of pumping out the sand when Sri Lanka pumping out the sand from the sea to Mattakkuliya beach in order to deepen the Colombo harbour for larger vessels to enter. In that case what about the risk to the adjoining coastal areas of Colombo such as Mattakkuliya which is a low lying area and up to areas of Negombo. We need to obtain some information from some engineering research institute of the Western countries on the bottom topography.

By: A.Rajasingam

A.Rajasingam — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:33:18 +0000

I think I missed a point. Even having constructed a long bridge, the deepening of the Sethusamudram is a must because the main concern is to allow ships to pass through this way in order to save time and money.

By: A.Rajasingam

A.Rajasingam — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:46:30 +0000

I remember analyzing about the outcome of the implementation of Sethusamudram Project in 1996 or 1997 in the newspaper called �WEEKEND� followed by discussions over the TV on this subject. However, I would like to express my view again on the impact of a national security together with on economic angle. The implementation of Sethusamudram Project will ultimately result in giving prompt significance to Kankesanturai Harbour and the Palaly Airport which might become an international Airport, given the facts of several hundred thousands of Tamils living in foreign countries. Even Madras Harbour will be busy. It won�t be a surprise if Hovercrafts are used across the Gulf of Mannar. Even natural disasters such as Tsunami are likely to affect given the fact that Singapore is located close to Indonesia, though Tsunami occurred on the western coast. However, Colombo stands to lose a considerable amount of loss if this Project is implemented and India is certain to benefit in terms of money and time. Further, the deepening of the present shallow sea would facilitate the Indian Navy to monitor the activities of the LTTE and other Muslim terrorist organizations in the region on account of the threat posed by Al-Aqsa Movement (a terrorist organization) in Tamil Nadu which in turn is a threat to the territorial integrity of India. The deepening of the sea would not affect the fishery resources because the Indian experts on this matter would have taken adequate steps to ensure the protection of the fishery resources. We�ll have to think of the Suez Canal, the under ground tunnel across the English Channel and the under ground Channel near Hongkong connecting a small island. The fears of Sri Lanka Government is the rise of Kankesanturai Harbour and Palaly Airport in future and the fears of the LTTE and other foreign terrorist organizations is that India would effectively monitor the activities of the terrorist organizations engaged in smuggling of arms, drugs and human beings from other countries. The implementation of the Sethusamudram Project would be a checkmate on Sri Lanka being used as a base for terrorist activities. Unfortunately the Scheme was suspended/abandoned on account of the protests launched by BJP. Instead, if India could boldly pay attention to connect Rameswaram and Mannar by constructing a very long bridge, similar to the Penang Bridge which is 13.5km long., not only it would be a wonder but also it can attract tourists worldwide and pump Crores of Rupees to its treasury in addition to the monitoring of the activities of all the terrorist organizations in the region. It is nothing for India when Malaysia can do it. Sri Lanka too can earn a profit from its own end if not for the present situation.