Undeterred by the ongoing war by LTTE, the governments of Sri Lanka and India are going ahead with the implementation of an ambitious Rs 1,000-crore under sea transmission link project between the two countries. As reported by FE on April 13, both the governments have given top priority to this project and are expected to sign an MoU soon, which will pave for an appointment of an agency to carry out a comprehensive under sea / marine survey. The proposed survey is like to be completed in six months and there-after, a detail project report will be prepared.
The proposed under sea/marine survey is necessary, prior to the laying of the undersea/submarine cables. The cable survey will look into the traffic of movements of ships in the area, depth of sea, earthquake zones and volcanic actives as well as the presence of sharks in that area of sea. The link is likely to connect Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka?s North Central Province. The transmission line is expected to be 400 KV HVDC overhead lines from Madurai to the Indian coast (near Rameshwaram (139 km), a 400 KV HVDC cable from the Indian sea coast to the Sri Lankan sea coast (39 km), a 400 KV HVDC over-head line from the Sri Lankan coast to Anuradhapura/Puttalam (125km). PowerGrid Corporation, which is India?s central transmission utility, will be the project implementation agency.
PowerGrid Corporation sources told FE on Monday that both the governments will decide on sharing expenditure even on carrying out under sea survey and thereafter for the entire project. ?Initially, it was discussed to share the cost of the undersea/marine survey equally. However, after signing the MoU, the actual sharing pattern will be finalised. The sharing of the project cost will also be decided,? sources said.
