A commendable idea

India - Sri Lanka relations, especially people-to-people contacts, received a boost this week with the launch of Mihin Lanka flights to Kolkata and Air India flights to New Delhi. Kolkata was always distant for many Sri Lankan visitors because a connecting flight was needed. The direct flight has cut travel time by at least 4 hours, when factoring in the transit times as well.

The commencement of new Delhi - Colombo flights by Air India is also a major development, since it will almost double the number of seats available between the two capital cities. SriLankan Airlines also flies daily to the Indian capital. In fact, SriLankan is the biggest foreign carrier operating into India with nearly 80 flights a week. The new flight from Air India, which also operates on the Chennai - Colombo sector, will further enhance seat availability.

There is another factor that has helped drive leisure and business travel between the two neighbours. It is now possible for Sri Lankans to get an e-visa top India and Indians too can get the same facility from Sri Lanka.

There is no need to wait in lengthy visa queues. In fact, India is now the leading tourism market for Sri Lanka.

However, even these initiatives are likely to be eclipsed by the latest proposal. Newspapers reported yesterday that the Indian Government is looking at connecting India and Sri Lanka via a sea-bridge following the inauguration of Agartala-Dhaka bus service and signing of the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal motor vehicle agreement. This has been announced by Indian Road Transport and Highways Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. According to these reports, the road connectivity, built across Palk Strait, could possibly be a combination of a sea-bridge and underwater tunnel. The underwater tunnel will also allow movement of ships through it. The distance between Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram and the Sri Lankan boundary is about 23 km. Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka is around 29 Km away.

A sea-bridge would help in increasing the trans-SAARC road and transport network, according to Gadkari. A proposal for providing road and rail link bridging the divide across Palk Strait has already been submitted to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), for a pre-feasibility study and subsequent financing.

Ferry service

Currently, there is no proper regular transport service between the two ports. In the days before the war in Sri Lanka, there was a regular ferry service that linked the two cities. After the war, the two countries commenced a Colombo - Tuticorin ferry service which was halted due to various technical issues. Both countries are keen to re-start the ferry service and talks are reported to be underway.

A road bridge will be an enormously gigantic and expensive undertaking. At current estimates, the project would cost Indian Rs.23,000 crore. This should necessarily have a rail link as well. If and when this mega project is completed, Sri Lanka will no longer be an island per se, just as the UK ceased to be one (at least in technical sense) when the Channel Tunnel opened. It will theoretically be possible to drive from Colombo all the way to Bangkok in Thailand via Myanmar. And with plans by China and Russia to further develop their road networks and integrate them with the superb European road network, even a Colombo - London run does not look impossible. With the exception of Myanmar, traffic moves on the left in most countries involved in the project proposed by India, so motorists will have no problem with familiarisation. Indeed, there has been many calls for Myanmar to revert to the left to streamline its traffic with the neighbours (before 1971, Myanmar traffic moved on the left).

Goods transport

The land link proposal deserves to be debated widely in both countries but it is worth pursuing. There will naturally be opposition to the project from various groups in both countries and their ideas should also be considered since both countries are true democracies. However, in today’s global economic set up, it does not pay to be an island in the physical sense. If Sri Lanka is integrated through a road link with the rest of Asia, it will be beneficial overall to the country’s economy. Moreover, apart from goods transport, overland passenger travel still has an aura of adventure and fun, even though you can fly to most Asian countries from Colombo in a matter of hours.

The countries involved in this project should market this aspect as well to international travellers. However, they do have to solve a plethora of problems including border controls, customs clearance and vehicle clearance. The ideal set up is a border-less region as in Europe, but security considerations may not allow this option since some parts in our region are still volatile.

The project will also call for a massive infrastructure upgrade in all countries, from expressways, link roads to rest areas. It will have to be a collective effort where the political leadership, universities, road planners, engineers, town planners, security experts and even social scientists are involved. This will no doubt strengthen the friendship between these nations and increase people to people contact. Just imagine starting your car in Colombo and may be a couple of days later, parking your car at a restaurant in Singapore before sitting down to a great meal. The possibilities of this road link are literally endless.

This also calls for better door to door GPS mapping augmented by 3 D and street views. You will be able to pop in a module that covers practically the whole of Asia and be guided from say, your home in Colombo to your friend’s house in Bangkok. Right now, GPS navigation is only available country by country. Again, Europe and North America are great example to follow.

In the meantime, it is vital to restart the Indo - Lanka ferry service without delay. Not everyone can afford even a low-cost carrier air ticket and the ferry tickets for foot passengers, which are far cheaper, will be much more affordable. The fares will be slightly high if you want to take your car along. But at least until we can drive all the way to New Delhi from Colombo, the ferry will be the best option.