ADB to fund bridge across Palk Strait: Radhakrishnan

Work on the long overdue road bridge between the Pamban island in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram district and Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka across the Palk Strait might start soon following both the Indian and Sri Lankan governments agreeing on the necessity for this facility. 

Conveying this to DT Next, Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, Pon Radhakrishnan said that the bridge was estimated to be built at a cost of around  Rs 34,000 crore. “The bridge would cover a distance of 23 kilometres and would be fully funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB),” the Union Minister said. 

Asked whether the facility would come to fruition, on the lines of the Sethusamudram project which envisaged deepening of the Palk Strait to permit higher draught vessels to travel directly to Chennai and nearby ports without having to go around Sri Lanka, the minister said the project would bear fruit once the feasibility study was commissioned. 

On whether there would be objections from certain sections as the famed Adams bridge (Ram Sethu) was directly in the path of the proposed project, Pon Radhakrishnan said it would not be harmed as the bridge would be aligned. So there won’t be any damage to the Ram Sethu. Also it would not be a facility constructed at the sea level. “It would be an elevated highway bridge right from Thalaimannar to Pamban island,” he added. 

Although a ferry service connected Rameswaram and Thalaimannar as an extension of the Chennai Egmore Boat Mail to Rameswaram, it was discontinued after the 1964 cyclone wiped out Dhanushkodi, the point from where the Sri Lanka bound ferry started. Though revived subsequently, it was again dropped due to economic reasons. 

“The land bridge once operational would allow travellers reach Sri Lanka safely from India in less than an hour,” the minister said.