A mariner's report
Thursday, September 13, 2007
http://www.livemint.com/2007/09/12235537/No-one-benefits-from-a-Rs2600.html
Posted: Thu, Sep 13 2007. 9:08 AM IST
No one benefits from a Rs 2,600 crore channel
Without explaining, the project's website says, "Substantial
benefits will accrue to the national and regional economy.
"Nobody, though, is sure how.Priyanka P. NarainOn Wednesday,
road and rail traffic in various parts of the country came
to a halt on account of a bridge. The bridge is Adam's
Bridge, an underwater coral formation that links India to
Sri Lanka. The Sethusamudram project is seeking to make
passage of ships around India faster by dredging a way through
this bridge and linking the Bay of Bengal to the Gulf of
Mannar. Many Hindus believe this bridge was built by Ram to
link India and Sri Lanka and consider it a holy relic. On
Wednesday, matters came to a head with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
a Hindu organization, orchestrating protests against the
project.
Traffic came to a standstill in New Delhi. Similar disruptions
were seen across the country following VHP's protests against the
projectOn the same day, the Union government told the Supreme
Court, which will eventually decide on the fate of the
Sethusamudram project, that there is no evidence to establish the
existence of Ram or other characters in Hindu epic Ramayana. In
an affidavit filed before the court, the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) said there was no "historical record" of Ram or that
the coral formation was actually a bridge built by him. Leaders
of the main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),
termed the affidavit "blasphemous". "This is an insult to the
Hindu faith," added Vijay Kumar Malhotra, a BJP parliament
member.
The VHP's protests, planned ahead of the affidavit, will likely
intensify after the government's court filing. It isn't just
political and religious opposition that is ranged against the
project, which could shave a day off the passage of ships
circumnavigating India. Environmentalists and scientists are
opposed to it, too. According to Tad Satya Murty, the chain of
coral islands (Adam's Bridge) "saved coastal Kerala" from the
wrath of the December 2004 tsunami by deflecting the tidal wave
back into the open sea. Coincidentally, on Wednesday, an
earthquake of 7.9 magnitude that struck southern Indonesia
triggered tsunami warnings in Singapore and the entire Indian
Ocean region.
In a four-part series, Mint has been examining the real issues
related to the project. Part 1 that appeared on Tuesday looked at
the status of the project as well as the lack of information on
all aspects of it, including costs. Part 2, on Wednesday, looked
at the scientific opposition ranged against the project.
Mumbai: "Look at the poverty we live in," says V. Vinod, the
fisherman, waving at the broken thatch-leaf homes and colourful
wooden boats anchored in shallow water that mark this desolate,
barren stretch of beach near Rameshwaram. Entangled in the
bramble, multi-coloured plastic bags flutter in the breeze. Two
women are digging in the sand, hunting for fresh water below.
Some others are performing morning ablutions near the shore.
Fisherman V. Vinod says he can't understand how the mega project
will help alleviate his community's povertyAuthorities of the
Sethusamudram Corp. Ltd (SCL), the government company responsible
for dredging a channel between the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of
Mannar, claim that the channel, which will shave 24 hours off the
time it takes for ships to circumnavigate India, will change the
lives of fishermen such as Vinod, and transform the entire
coastal economy.
The project's website makes a sales pitch about the economic
growth of the region: "Substantial benefits will accrue to the
national and regional economy. Actual payback period accumlated
earnings due to implementation of the fishermen in the coastal
districts."
Mint could not get anyone to explain what that meant or if there
was a number assigned to this. The website does not explain how
this plan for economic progress will work. The project is
supposed to cost Rs2,600 crore.
Vinod says that project authorities had told the fishermen it
would help them earn a better living. "But how can it help us?
How can ships passing by help us? Now these big, big ships will
pass by us. How will we get fish?"
When asked about how this project was supposed to improve
economic prosperity in the region, N.K. Raghupathy, former
chairman of SCL and its most vocal champion, says: "Take a trip
down the south coast and see the backwardness of the region. We
have a plan for coming up with fishing harbours along the coast."
Actually, the plan to come up with fishing harbours along the
east coast of India is supposed to be an Oil and Natural Gas
Corp. (ONGC) project.
Raghupathy corrects himself when this is pointed out: "Yes,
that's true. It's not us actually, but ONGC does plan to have
fishing harbours which will transform the fishing industry here."
He does not explain how this ONGC project is related to the
Sethusamudram project.
L. Amalraj, vicar of the Sivaganga district, says he has been
working with the local fishermen for the last four years. "Only a
fisherman can understand what this project will do to them. The
sea is their whole world. It is all they know. This project will
benefit only the shipping companies. No one else," he says.
Benefits for none?
It is unlikely that even shipping companies will benefit, says
Capt. H. Balakrishnan, who left the Indian Navy in 1990 to join
the merchant navy. He has put together a mariner's report on the
project. "I have been a mariner all my life. I have studied this
project like a mariner and found that the project helps no one.
To begin with, no ship of more than 30,000 tonnage will be able
to use this channel because of its depth.
"Since this channel is just 12m deep, and you have to leave at
least 2m space between the bottom of the ship and the seabed,
only ships that sink 10m below the water can use it. Which means,
the maximum weight these ships can carry is 30,000 tonnes,"
Balakrishnan explains.
Until about 10 years ago, 30,000 tonnes would have been a good-
sized ship, says Brian Alexander, an agent for foreign cargo
ships, who has worked at various ports across the country for the
past 25 years. "Now, I don't know of any foreign ship that tiny.
Even coal ships that come from Indonesia and Africa weigh at
least 45,000 tonnes. In international shipping, the bigger the
ship, the lower the freight. So you see, there is no incentive
for small-sized cargo ships. I don't think I know of any one who
would even consider using that channel."
It seems unlikely that Indian shippers will benefit either, says
Anjani Sinha of the Multi Commodities Exchange, because
negligible domestic trade is carried out on ships from coast to
coast. Pressed for a ballpark estimate on the commodity trade
that does happen by sea, he says, "Really, it is practically
nothing."
Indian shipping companies are equally sceptical. the country's
shipping firms have 725 ships that are small enough to be able to
use this channel, but ship owners say they will not use it. "The
whole thing is a waste of money, I think," says Arun Sharma,
president of the Kolkata-based India Steamship Co and member of
the Indian National Shipowners Association. "Firstly, little
domestic trade happens on the sea. Second, I don't have ships
that small. Third, even if I did, I would not use the channel. It
is a security risk."
The security issue comes from the proximity of the channel to Sri
Lanka's Jaffna coast where the insurgent group, the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has been fighting for an autonomous
Tamil state. LTTE members are reportedly active in the southern
part of India as well, especially Rameshwaram. The government has
issued a warning to all ships to steer at least 50 nautical miles
clear of Sri Lanka's Jaffna coast.
"Now they want us to go within a 15-mile distance, turn our
propellers off and become sitting ducks for the LTTE? I don't
think so," says Sharma.
Who's the channel for?
"If international ships cannot use it (because they are too big)
and domestic ships don't need it, who exactly is going to use
this channel?" asks Jacob John, an economist at Just Change
India, who has compiled an economic viability report on the
project. The SCL website says about 3,500 ships are expected to
use this channel in the first year.
Some people at the Indian National Shipowners Association, who do
not wish to be identified, disagree. "Who is going to use this
channel?," says one person.
"We are not sure how many shipowners will use it. We are not sure
it makes economic sense for the ministry to go ahead with this
channel. But it is our minister, and when he is facing so much
criticism, we have to stand with him."
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