Tuesday, November 11, 2014

my firstpost piece on chinese maritime threats, colombo, vizhinjam

http://www.firstpost.com/world/chinas-maritime-threat-how-india-let-its-best-bet-vizhinjam-be-sabotaged-1796603.html 

vizhinjam is a key for commercial container traffic. ignoring it will put india at the mercy of colombo's chinese-run container port.

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sent from samsung galaxy note, so please excuse brevity

1 comment:

Sujeev said...

Hmmmm. Maybe it is time to think big.

Why can't India under Narendra Modi bring Sri Lanka closer by rebuilding the Ramar Sethu as a road/rail/pedestrian bridge, and building a rail & road network in Sri Lanka to go along with it?

This project, even just a proposal, has the potential to blindside the calculations of every mischief maker aligned with Breaking India forces.

After all, according to the wiki entry, Ramar Sethu was passable till just a few centuries ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam's_Bridge

Easy access to Sri Lanka's container terminals would be only one of many benefits for India if the Sethu were to be rebuilt.To get The Lankans onboard,maybe India can build another rocket launch facility in Southern Sri Lanka for ISRO, among other irresistible sops, and get ISRO to hire Sri Lankan engineers, so that even the Lankans can share in ISRO's glory & profits. ISRO would also benefit as they can put heavier payloads atop their rockets, as the southern Sri Lanka location would be closer to the equator.

Techinically, rebuilding Ramar Sethu should be feasible, as the Chinese have built longer bridges in deeper waters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangzhou_Bay_Bridge

The funding for such a project could be found by cancelling the boondoggle of a high speed rail link between Ahmedabad & Mumbai, which is likely to benefit only a few rich Gujarati businessmen.

Even Narendra Modi should be sufficiently enthused by such a project, as he has a chance to cement his place in history as a great Hindu hero by rebuilding the Ramar Sethu.

Lord Rama built the original bridge for war. Narendra Modi can rebuild it for peace, prosperity & security, and do one better than Lord Rama himself in the process.