गुरुवार, सितंबर 20, 2007

सेतुसमुद्रम या सफेद हाथी

  • क्‍या पुल तोड़ा जाए ?
  • क्‍या पुल है ?
  • है तो किसने बनाया ?
  • अगर बनाया तो क्‍या बनाने वाला कभी था ?

सरकार तय नहीं कर पा रही है कि राम को आधिकारिक रूप से स्‍वीकारें या नहीं।हलफ़नामे पर हलफनामे दाखिल किए जा रहे हैं। पहली बार राम को लेकर तूतू-मैंमैं होते देखा सुना वो भी सत्ता पाटी वाले 'राम' और 'अंबिका' के बीच।

राम के नाम पर निलंबित हुए अधिका‍रियों के परिजन आजकल केवल राम को ही याद कर रहे होंगे।

उधर विपक्षी दल वाले भी देश की जनता को राम भरोसे छोड़कर चक्‍केजाम करने में जुटे हैं।

अब सरकार बोल रही है कि हम तो केवल भाजपा की परियोजना को आगे बढ़ा रहे हैं। वाजपेयी जी ने ही इस सेतुसमुद्रम परियोजना का जयघोष किया था। मामला आस्‍था विश्‍वास और देश की प्रगति (?) का है।

मेरे मतानुसार तो राम के अस्तित्‍व पर तो सवाल उठाना ही मूर्खता है। राम हैं और जरुर हैं, यह तो कोई नास्तिक भी बता देगा पिछले 60 साल की भारत यात्रा को देखकर। जिस तरह से घोटालों तथा बेइमानी का 'इन्‍फ्लैशन इंडैक्‍स' लगातार बढ़ते जाने के बावजूद देश चल रहा है और अच्‍छा चल रहा है उसे देखकर तो यही कह सकते हैं सबकुछ राम भरोसे ही है।खैर, आस्‍था विश्‍वास और इन सारी बातों को कुछ देर के लिए उठाकर एक तरफ रख दे और फिर सोचें कि क्‍या सेतुसमुद्रम परियोजना इतनी आवश्‍यक ? क्‍या वास्‍तव में इससे देश का कुछ भला होगा ?कहा जा रहा है कि इस परियोजना के पूरा होने से

  • आज के मुकाबले 785 किलोमीटर के अनावश्यक सफर की बचत होगी!
  • प्रत्येक सफर में हर जहाज का 30 घंटे का समय बचेगा।
  • फलस्‍वरुप प्रत्येक जहाज के ईंघन खर्च में बचत की वजह से भारत को प्रतिवर्ष 215 करोड़ रुपयों की बचत होगी।
  • इसके अलावा भारत की दक्षिण-पूवीर्य तट रेखा पर जहाजों का आवागमन बढ़ने से पूरे क्षेत्र को कई तरह के लाभ मिलेंगे। व्‍यापार में वृद्धि तो होगी ही।
  • 215 करोड़ की बचत के चलते या परियोजना 12 साल में 2400 करोड़ का अपना खर्चा भी पूरा कर लेगी।

18 सितम्‍बर को हिन्‍दुस्‍तान टाइम्‍स के मुखपृष्‍ठ पर छपे इंद्रजीत हाजरा के आलेख को अगर देखें तो स्थितियॉं काफी अलग दिखाई देती हैं। अर्थशास्‍त्री जैकब जॉन की अगर माने तो जिस रिपोर्ट को आधार बनाकर सरकार पूरी परियोजना को कार्यान्वित कर रही है, उस रिपोर्ट में तथ्‍यों को कुछ ज्‍यादा ही बढ़ा-चढ़ा कर पेश किया गया है। ये रिपोर्ट इंजीनीयरिंग सलाहकार फर्म एल एंड टी रामबॉल ने तैयार की थी। इसके अधिकारी अब कोई टिप्‍पणी करने से बचते हुए चुप्‍पी साधे हुए हैं। नीचे उस लेख को ज्‍यों का त्‍यो उद्धृत कर रहा हूँ।

Hindustan Times 18 Sep 2007

Ram Setu: Good politics, bad economics

Indrajit HazraRameshwaram/ChennaiSTANDING ON the shoreline at Dhanushkodi near Rameshwaram, one can't see the underwater structure that some believe was built by Lord Ram and others to be a coral reef formation. But one can make out two rectangular structures on the horizon. Not more than 7-8 km into the sea, two dredging ships lie idle not unlike two sunbathing elephants. But do they represent one giant Rs 3,000 crore-plus white elephant in the making? Until last month, when a Supreme Court order stopped work on the Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP) to ascertain possible ecological damage, these ships were busy dredging to make a 12 metre deep, 300 metre wide navigable canal ready by 2008. The canal, according to its champions, will considerably reduce shipping time and fuel expenses between the east and west coasts of India by providing a shorter alternative to travelling around Sri Lanka.

With the VHP-BJP adding its spanner in the canal work by protesting against any destruction of the Ram Setu (or Adam's Bridge), the project is under fire. But there could be a more compelling reason than religious damage for the Sethusamudram Canal to be a bad idea: bad economics.Some 666 km away from Rameshwaram, the Chennai office of L&T Ramboll, the engineering consultancy firm that prepared a detailed project report on the SSCP in 2004, was shut on the occasion of Vinayak Chaturthi. But even two days later, T. Srinivasan - who led the team that prepared the feasibility report (used by the government to go ahead with the project) - is mum about the criticisms levelled at it.

A report by infrastructure economist Jacob John shows that that the L&T Ramboll report overestimates the distance saved for ships by assuming Kanyakumari and Tuticorin as starting points for voyages around the Indian peninsula. "Ships that arrive from Europe and Africa do not need to touch these destinations before going around Sri Lanka, making the distance saved for these ships much smaller," he says. This observation is important because 60 per cent of the planned revenue of the canal is to come from international shipping. On being asked whether any shipping companies, foreign or domestic, have come on board promising future use of the canal, Sethusamudram Corp Ltd Superintendent Engineer, Manickam, is furtive. "The Dredging Corporation of India is very much involved in the project," he says by way of an answer. The feasibility report's projected saving in time seems to have overlooked the fact that ships will have to slow down considerably after they enter the canal. Also, the need to have pilots guiding the ships once in the canal will add to the layering of cost and time.

Prabir De, a maritime economist and Associate Fellow at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, is skeptical about the business model of the project. "The overwhelming revenues are generated from container handling. Some 700,000 of the million containers being handled currentlyin Colombo are Indian and a significant amount of that figure could be diverted if the Sethusamnudram canal is up and running. But this seems to be a 'static' concept." He goes on to explain that despite thepossibility of additional container revenues, the eco nomic cons are likely to outweigh the pros. With the time of travel not being reduced between Kolkata and Tuticorin by the projected 340 nautical miles and between Chennnai and Tuticorin by 434 nautical miles - because of slower speeds and piloting -ships may actually find it financially unfeasible to use the canal. Retired Indian Navy Captain, H. Balakrishnan, who had come out with his own economic analysis of the project in March 2007, adds another economic disincentive.

"The open source literature on the SSCP indicates that vessels up to 32,000 DWT (dead weight tonnage) can navigate through the canal. However, in the current global shipping scenario, to reduce operating costs and cater to the enormous growth in shipping needs, trends are towards operating vessels of 60,000 DWT and above." In other words, bulk carriers won't be able to pass through the canal. According to John, "It will take more than 200 years for the project to break even."

When dealing with new ports or canals in India, hydraulic models are normally constructed to carry out tests on a much smaller scale. The Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) at Kharakvasla near Pune, under the Union Ministry of Water Resources, is usually sought out for this purpose. CWPRS Director V .M. Bendre confirms that although such a test is not mandatory, "some other expert body must have conducted tests on the SSCP hydraulic model". The National Environmental Engineering Research In stitute (NEERI) prepared an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) and a subsequent study of the project. There is no specific mention of any hydraulic model. Which brings one to the question: whom will this Rs 3,000-plus project serve? Not the shipping industry, it seems, as not enough ships are likely to take this contentious "short cut".

Prabir De ventures an answer: "Frankly, it's politics that is pushing the project. Very few people may end up being benefited by the canal. But a big project always looks good even if it actually ends up with more problems than benefits." So one doesn't even have to be a North Indian "Ram bhakt" to be worried about the Sethusamudram Canal Project.