India, infrastrutture, repressione Wsws 05-12-14
Nuova Delhi va avanti con il progetto di un Canale di Suez indiano
Sarath Kumara
L’India
intende accrescere la sua presenza militare nell’area di “legittimo
interesse” dell’Oceano Indiano e del Golfo Persico. In progetto il
maggior porto della marina militare in Asia.
Un’infrastruttura utile agli scopi strategici indiani è il progettato canale
di Sethusamudram tra il Sud India, porto di Tuticorin, e il Nord Sri
Lanka, Adams Bridge nel golfo di Mannar a sud, e la Baia del Belgala a
nord (costo $550mn, 167 km, 300m. di ampiezza, 14,5m. di profondità).
Il progetto risale al comandante britannico della marina indiana, A.D. Taylor, nel 1860, venne ripreso nel 1955 e in seguito; prende corpo solo ora con lo sviluppo degli interessi economici e strategici dell’India.
Le carenze infrastrutturali sono un forte ostacolo alle potenzialità economiche dell’India
che negli ultimi 15 anni ha aperto la propria economia attraendo
cospicui investimenti esteri, in particolare nel settore delle
Information technologies.
Il canale in progetto ridurrà tempo e costi di trasporto marittimo
tra la costa orientale e i porti occidentali, fino al MO e all’Europa.
Previsti particolari vantaggi per i porti indiani meridionali di
Nagapattinam, Rameshwaram e Tuticorin.
Il maggior interesse è di tipo strategico: il canale accrescerà la capacità di spostamento delle navi da guerra tra costa est ed ovest e verso tutto l’Oceano Indiano.
Nel
2004 è stata presentata la nuova dottrina marittima dell’India, che
dalla difesa delle coste passa al perseguimento degli interessi indiani
in tutta le Regione dell’Oceano Indiano (IOR); essa dichiara che i mari dal Golfo Persico allo stretto di Malacca sono ora un’area legittima di interesse dell’India.
Il capo ammiraglio indiano, Arun Prakash: «L’Oceano
Indiano è ora un’autostrada lungo la quale passa un quarto del
commercio e dell’energia mondiali. […] La marina indiana è una
componente chiave della politica estera del paese».
La
marina indiana ha posto la sua base operativa e il suo porto sulla
costa occidentale a Karwar nello Stato indiano meridionale di Karnataka.
Questa base fa parte del progetto Seabird, che comprende una stazione dell’aviazioni militare, un deposito di armamenti navali e un silos per i missili. Quando sarà completato, il progetto sarà il maggior porto navale dell’Asia.
Il canale Sethusamudram integra la base di Karwar, anche se a breve consentirà solo il passaggio di navi di medio tonnellaggio, ma migliorerà notevolmente la capacità della marina e della guardia costiera, in cooperazione con i militari di Sri-Lanka, di intercettare le imbarcazioni dei separatisti tamil LTTE.
Opposizione
alla costruzione del canale da parte di pescatori (500mila nel Nord
Sri-Lanka e nel Tamil Nadu) ed associazioni ambientaliste.
Il canale consentirà di bypassare i porti di Sri Lanka, attualmente il 60% delle merci trasportate via
mare passanti per il porto di Colombo provengono dall’India. New Delhi
non ha consultato il governo di Sri Lanka prima di annunciare il
progetto del canale.Wsws 05-12-14
New Delhi presses ahead with plans for an Indian “Suez Canal”
By Sarath Kumara
Indian government is proceeding with plans to dredge a deep-water canal
in the Palk Strait between southern India and northern Sri Lanka
despite opposition in both countries from fishermen and
environmentalists. The aim of the Sethusamudram project is to facilitate commercial shipping and particularly to allow more rapid deployment of the Indian navy.
Hailed
as India’s Suez Canal, the trench costing 20 billion rupees ($US550
million) will be 167 kilometres long, 300 metres wide and 14.5 metres
deep. When completed in 2008, it will stretch from Tuticorin port on
India’s southern coast to Adams Bridge in the Gulf of Mannar and
northward to the Bay of Bengal.
Launching the project in July, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that when completed it would be “a catalyst for industrial development, spur trade and commerce, promote coastal shipping and generate employment”.
idea was first mooted by the British Commander of the Indian Marines,
A.D. Taylor, in 1860 and was floated again by Indian governments in
1955 and subsequently. However, the project was only given the go-ahead this year in line with India’s developing economic and strategic interests.
Over the past decade and a half, India has opened up its economy and attracted substantial foreign investment, particular in the IT sector. But as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram recently commented: “Infrastructure remains the major bottleneck for the potential surge in growth in India.”
Sethusamudram canal will cut the time and costs for shipping from
India’s east coast to western ports and beyond to the Middle East and
Europe. At present, ships have to sail around Sri Lanka. The project is expected to directly benefit the south Indian ports of Nagapattinam, Rameshwaram and Tuticorin.
The canal will greatly enhance the ability of the Indian navy to move
warships between the Indian east and west coasts and to different parts
of the Indian Ocean. This fits with Indian ambitions to expand its naval influence throughout the region.
Emphasising the new doctrine, naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash told a news conference this month: “The
Indian Ocean is now the highway along which over a quarter of the
world’s trade and energy requirements move”. Thus, he concluded: “The
Indian Navy is a key component of the nation’s foreign policy.”
Indian navy has established its own exclusive operational base and
port, located on the west coast at Karwar in the south Indian state of
Karnataka. The Karwar base is part of Project Seabird, which will
include an air force station, a naval armament depot and missile silos.
When completed, the project will be the largest naval port in Asia.
the canal would greatly improve the capacity of the Indian navy and
coast guard, in collaboration with the Sri Lankan military, to
intercept vessels operated by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE). At present, one of the LTTE’s main
supply routes runs through the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and
then via sea into northern Sri Lanka. “[H]opefully that [the canal]
will be a deterrent to the LTTE,” Admiral Prakash said recently.
Sethusamudram project involves dredging a passage through 30 kilometres
of shallow sand shoals that effectively form a land bridge between
India and Sri Lanka. It will cut through the Adams Bridge reef
between the Indian island of Pamban and Talaimannaram in Sri Lanka,
where the water depth is just two to three metres.
Sanjeev Gopal from Greenpeace warned in May: “This dredging will
disturb a large amount of underwater sediment. It will wreck coral
reefs and affect the nearby Gulf of Mannar marine reserve, home to more
than 3,600 species.”
pointed out that constant dredging would be required to keep the canal
open. “This will spread the sediment far and wide. It will eventually
smother the coral reef systems, and if they are smothered the reefs
will collapse.” The impact on fish stocks and other species could be
disastrous.
National Aquatic Research Authority (NARA), the increase in water flow
from Bay of Bengal to Gulf of Mannar could also affect the gulf’s
delicate eco-system.
people living in fishing communities in northern Sri Lanka and coastal
Tamil Nadu could lose their livelihoods. According to an article on the Asia Times website, fishermen could face restrictions and entire villages may be displaced to make way for repair yards and other facilities.
Indian government has dismissed objections, saying the sensitive
ecological zone is 20 kilometres from dredging zone. But neither
fishermen nor ecologists are convinced. Thousands of Indian fishermen have been involved in protests since July. In Arakattuthurai in Tamil Nadu, police stopped fishermen boarding some 200 fibreglass boats to block work on the canal.
promoting the project, Indian Prime Minister Singh declared that it
would assist “our neighbours”. In fact the result will be the opposite.
Some 60 percent of transshipment goods through Sri Lanka’s main port
of Colombo presently come from India. The canal will allow a portion of
Indian commercial shipping to bypass Sri Lankan ports.
According to the International Law of the Sea, a country is obliged to
exchange feasibility studies and reports with its neighbours for a
project involving a shared stretch of sea.
early July, Sri Lanka’s then foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told
parliament that the government would take India to the International
Court of Justice if the project had a negative impact. He also pressed
for “joint monitoring and assessment of any adverse implications”.
Since then, Colombo has virtually dropped any opposition, possibly in
return for Indian assurances that the canal will help to curb the LTTE.
determination to proceed unilaterally simply confirms that the canal is
an integral part of New Delhi’s ambitions for a greater strategic and
economic role in the region and internationally.