Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP) should be viewed from the national security angle. Such a perspective will obviate the need to weigh the economic benefits or potential return on investment.

Navy, Coast Guard stand to gain the most in mobility The history and the economic considerations aside, the shipping channel project may be most useful from the national security perspective.

Experts say that the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP) should be viewed from the national security angle.

Some of the Salient Features from the Indian Security Perspective

The Sethu Shipping channel is estimated to cost Rs. 2420 crore, questions were raised about the returns and whether the Government of India could tap foreign and domestic private investment if the project was indeed viable.

Some of the Experts say that there was a clear security angle to the SSCP. Aside from the fact that it could provide a major boost to coastal shipping and promote the emergence of the Tuticorin harbour as a hub in the east coast, there were distinct security advantages. It offered a direct link between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea through the Palk Bay, entirely on Indian territorial waters.

An Indian Security perspective will obviate the need to weigh the economic benefits or potential return on investment.

Direct benefit

A direct benefit from the channel would be the ability of Naval and Coast Guard vessels to cross over from the eastern side to the west and vice versa in a much shorter duration and avoid having to traverse international waters. In times of emergency, even for a natural calamity, the Navy or Coast Guard could mobilise more vessels and men in a shorter span of time

Evolutionary changes

Coast Guard Deputy Director General Prabhakaran Paleri saw "evolutionary changes" in this more than century-old proposal. "How do a people handle such projects in a developing country poised for growth with an additional dimension of geostrategy thrown in? The answer lies in realistic thinking, without getting emotionally involved in the plot, as in the case of any process in strategic initiatives."

Though the project was not implemented all these decades, it was never really abandoned.

Experts say that in view of the security perspective, the SSCP should not be considered in mere economic terms - of debt and equity, internal investment returns or viability. There were concerns relating to protection of the ecology and environment in the area, the possible impact on fisheries and the need to provide a proper rehabilitation for fishermen who could lose their livelihood because of the dredging and the channel.

(The seminar was organised by the Kerala Chapter, Society for Indian Ocean Studies, Kunhali Marakkar Centre for West Asian Studies and Chair for Maritime Studies and Research, Calicut University)