Container Terminal Project in Nicobar: Strategic and Economic Significance

To say that the project is an ecological disaster is anything but the truth.

- Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (Retd)

A reputed English daily recently carried an article titled, "The making of an ecological disaster in the Nicobar." The title is alarming, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Let us first examine the geography of the area in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Container Transhipment Terminal Project is being built in Galathea Bay, which is at the southernmost tip of India, Indira Point. The point itself is half-submerged in the sea, post the 2004 tsunami. So is the piece of land leading to the lighthouse at Indira Point. It may be recalled that the entire tectonic plate tilted as a result of the earthquake that preceded the tsunami.

Significance of the Project

As is evident, this island sits at the mouth of the Malacca Strait, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Pacific (through the South China Sea). It is one of the busiest sea lanes through which the world's energy is transported in the form of crude oil and gas. Because this is a narrow passage, ships must slow down, thereby becoming vulnerable to piracy, theft, and unauthorized boarding.

As for our adversary, some 40% of their oil and gas is transported through this strait. Energy sources are transported from the Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, the African coast, and South America. The feeling of vulnerability is such that one head of state called it the "Malacca Dilemma" for his country. Despite their efforts to carry oil through pipelines laid from the discharge port to the refinery by our northern neighbor, a significant quantity would have to pass through the Malacca Strait.