|
|
|
| Sunday, 10 July 2005 |
 |
|
 |
News |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Greens concerned over Sethusamudram by Elmo Leonard India has inaugurated the Sethusamudram Canal project to dredge the Indian side of the sea which boarders Sri Lanka and India, providing a marine pathway through the two nations. This controversial move comes in spite of expert opinions about enormous and long-term adverse impacts on Sri Lanka's environment and fisheries resources and similar adverse effects on India. India's call for international tenders to re-evaluate all environmental impact assessments carried out unilaterally, had thus far been disregarded by the world's renowned organisations in the field, it is reliably learned. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study on the Project carried out by India rarely refers to Sri Lanka, which is a main stakeholder, Chief Executive Officer of Lanka Hydraulic Institute (LHI) Malik Mendis said. LHI, the main consultant for the Maldives Sea Level Rise Project, has successfully handled the sea erosion management project in Brunei and received many inquiries for services from Iran and Australia. Mendis said that the Palk Strait which divides the two nations is sensitive environmentally, economically, socially, politically and militarily to both countries. This is a pristine piece of sea and environmentally very sensitive, due to its low depth and spawning area for marine life. Such projects should be studied and handled by a joint India-Sri Lanka Council responsible for development in this region. The recent Link across Oresund looping Denmark and Sweden was jointly undertaken by the two nations and all studies were shared. Mendis had visited the Oresund Link and was amazed at the reciprocal approach by the two European nations. This link resulted in 'zero environmental impact' from the project. India's secrecy disregards the enormous and long term environmental consequences the people on the western side of Sri Lanka would have to bear if the project sees the light of day. Besides, the United Nations Law of the Sea binds that two nations be partners in the instance of such a project being taken up. The proposed Sethusamudram Canal would cover 260 kms, 140 kms north of the now submerged Adam's Bridge landway and 120 kms south of it. The Adam's Bridge had been largely, a walkway of islands, now submerged. The Canal is expected to have a depth of 12 metres enabling 10,000 to 12,000 GRT vessels to pass through. India justifies the proposed canal on the grounds that Indian ships now have to go around 400 km of sea way around Sri Lanka's eastern coast to get to eastern Indian ports. Government of India has planned to dredge the sea to a width of 300 metres through 44 nautical miles of this stretch. It is estimated that 32.5 million cubic metres of sand will be dredged in the high Adam's Bridge area and around 52 million cubic metres in the Palk Strait. Sri Lanka's fisheries experts point out that the Gulf of Mannar, which falls in the Indo-Pacific region is considered to be one of the world's richest marine biological resources. India's plan does not envisage where the dredged material will be shifted to, bringing much concern into the Sri Lankan side. Also, with regard to the effects that a dredged canal have on water exchange, ecology, coasts etc. Mendis contented that there would be an increase in water exchange across Adam's Bridge effecting the ecology of the entire region. LHI says that studies are necessary on: baseline and model calculations to reach a zero solution, nutrient salts and oxygen, fish resources/marine life, sediment spillage and planning of dredging operations, benthic vegetation. Also, bird population and migratory patterns, water quality coastal morphology, air pollution, noise and vibrations, control and monitoring programmes and spillage monitoring. Sri Lanka's stand is that economic gains should be made by both sides. Colombo would maintain that as a Fixed Link Bridge is planned as a part of an Asian Highway Network, the navigational channel should cut through the sea boundaries of the two nations, making it a navigational channel for both countries and be considered together with the proposed bridge. The dredged material should be used to raise the level of the submerged islands along the Adam's bridge. That data gathering should be over many years, more than a decade, in an attempt to get a "zero solution." |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
