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"Sethu project cost could come down by 10 per cent"

Staff Reporter

SSCP chief says there is not much of rocky area to be dredged

DRIVING A POINT HOME: N.K. Raghupathy, Chairman, Tuticorin Port Trust/Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project, addressing the 38th Engineers day function in the city on Thursday. — Photo: K. Ganesan

MADURAI: The cost of implementation of the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) is likely to come down by 10 per cent, as there was not much of rocky area to be dredged, according to N.K. Raghupathy, the Chairman, Tuticorin Port Trust/SSCP.

Addressing a meeting at the Institution of Engineers (India), Madurai Local Centre here on Thursday, Mr. Raghupathy said a geo-technical study undertaken recently revealed that there was not much of rocky area, but only sandy and soft soil to be dredged. Besides, he expected to save the cost by inviting global tenders. "The cost of the project, estimated at Rs.2,233 crores in the Detailed Project Report, is likely to come down by at least 10 per cent," he said.

Cent per cent eco-friendly

Stating that he was accused of being strictly following over 1,200 parameters laid down for monitoring the environmental impact of dredging, the Chairman said he had turned down the Environmental Monitoring Committee's proposal to "dilute the periodicity" of testing. "They wanted to do it thrice a day, whereas we are doing it once every four hours," he said.

Expressing satisfaction over the last two-and-a-half-month monitoring work, he said there was no reason why global companies could not maintain the same trend in the days to come. While 65 million cubic metres of dredging work had been carried out by major Indian ports in the last three years, he said the SSCP envisaged only dredging only 40 million cubic metres of dredging every year in the next two years. "If we keep up the (environmental) monitoring work, I am convinced that the project is 100 per cent environmentally viable."

"I am not bothered about political dimension (in implementation of the SSCP)," Mr. Raghupathy said adding, "If there is no `political obstacle,' the first ship will be sailing on the channel on January 1, 2008".

Economically viable

Over 84 per cent of ships calling at Indian ports were of the capacity of 50,000 tonne dead weight, that could very well use the channel, making it economically viable, he said.

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