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Business News/ Industry / Telecom/  Govt plans to spend `800 cr on undersea cable link to Andamans
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Govt plans to spend `800 cr on undersea cable link to Andamans

The project will likely cost a lot more than the `800 cr envisaged as the cable will have to connect all 9 major islands

The project will be implemented by Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corp. Ltd, through the ministry of home affairs, with technical expertise to be provided by the department of telecommunications. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/MintPremium
The project will be implemented by Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corp. Ltd, through the ministry of home affairs, with technical expertise to be provided by the department of telecommunications. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

New Delhi: To improve telecommunications connectivity with the distant Andaman and Nicobar, located about 1,000km from Chennai, the government has proposed an undersea cable link to the Union territory’s nine main islands at an estimated cost of 800 crore.

The project will be implemented by Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corp. Ltd, through the ministry of home affairs, with technical expertise to be provided by the department of telecommunications, according to an internal memo on the proposal reviewed by Mint.

The project will likely cost a lot more than the 800 crore envisaged as the cable will have to connect all nine major islands of the Andaman and Nicobar administration, the note said.

Connecting the island is key to India’s strategic initiatives in the area.

“Absolutely, it’s of great importance whether you look at it in terms of disaster management or you look at it in terms of strategic issues," said N. Ravi, former secretary, east, in the ministry of external affairs.

Noting the large-scale damage wrought by the 2004 December tsunami along India’s east coast and the eastern maritime boundary off the coast of the Andaman islands, Ravi said such a communication link is “an absolute necessity".

The 2004 tsunami, triggered by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, sent giant waves crashing across the region, killing more than 220,000 people. Most of the dead were in the Indonesian province of Aceh, but thousands were also killed in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and India, including residents of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

“This (plans to link Andamans with mainland India through the cable) should have been done at least in the year 2009-10. But better late than never. Any link that strengthens communication between India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a good thing," Ravi said, referring to the nearly 600 islands—flanked by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal—that make up the chain where more than 350,000 people live.

“The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are an important Union territory. They constitute India’s eastern maritime boundary when you come from the east," he said referring to India sharing a maritime boundary with Indonesia.

He also pointed to the need for improving communications given India’s vast exclusive economic zone off the eastern coast and the waters around the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

According to former navy chief admiral Arun Prakash, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands sit at the mouth of the Malacca Strait, which constitutes one of the busiest shipping thoroughfares of the world.

It is a key route through which international energy and commodity trade passes, Prakash said, adding that this was “one of the reasons why India set up its first tri-service command in the Andamans in 2001".

The command—comprising units of the army, navy and air force—was set up in October 2001 and Prakash was its first commander-in-chief.

The islands are also “important given that they are situated in the Bay of Bengal and are also key for the stability of the Indian Ocean," Prakash said.

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Published: 25 Mar 2014, 12:26 AM IST
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