Connectivity is the key word in the relations between Delhi and Colombo, in different areas: maritime, air, energy, commercial, economic and between people. One of the projects under study is the so-called “Land Connectivity Corridor”, a bridge over the sea – for road and rail – that connects Talaimannar with Rameswaram. India’s contribution to the island’s economy at the worst moment of the crisis.
Colombo ()- Connectivity. This is the key word for the future development of relations between Colombo and New Delhi, as Indian High Commissioner Santos Jha recently pointed out during a debate with a select group of personalities in the capital on the current state of bilateral relations. The objective is to strengthen ties based precisely on the economic association with a project of great impact, at least at a potential level, what is called “India-Sri Lanka Land Connectivity Corridor”.
Last March, the head of the presidential cabinet and expert advisor on national security, Sagala Ratnayake, visited India to discuss precisely the execution of the project: the corridor that connects India and Sri Lanka by land will, at least according to forecasts, a length of 23 km, largely made up of a bridge that crosses the sea and links Tamil Nadu with the former island of Ceylon.
The megastructure will run through the Palk Strait linking Talaimannar with Rameswaram, with a railway line parallel to vehicle traffic. The project also includes the construction of a highway system that will facilitate travel between Talaimannar and Trincomalee in the east direction – which is considered a priority – and Colombo in the south direction.
Meanwhile, joint efforts are also being made to promote the country’s energy security by seeking to reduce energy supply costs by connecting Sri Lanka to emerging regional and global networks. In this view, India represents an important transit point and can help channel investments to enhance Sri Lanka’s “green” energy potential and generate additional income. The goal, going forward, is to promote Colombo as a major energy exporter. The interconnection of the electrical grid, a multi-product oil pipeline and a gas pipeline for liquefied natural gas connecting India and Sri Lanka are some of the future projects that both countries are studying.
India has helped Sri Lanka complete more than 60 major projects across sectors, spread across 25 districts, and bilateral relations are strengthening as people’s needs and priorities evolve. During the economic crisis, the worst of the post-independence period, Delhi provided Sri Lanka with around four billion dollars in food and financial assistance. On his visit to India last July, President Ranil Wickremesinghe met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and initiated a productive discussion to create a deeper bilateral economic partnership between the two countries. The common commitment is to further value and enhance growth in the Indian Ocean region.
The programmatic document adopted by the two leaders is a long-term roadmap to prosper together, the key factor of which is connectivity in five areas: maritime, air, energy and electricity, commercial, economic and financial, and between people. Political analysts Ramesh Kahawita and Sonali Thrimawithana explain to that “President Wickremesinghe has fully raised for the first time the project” of land connection between India and Sri Lanka in his speech “at the seventh Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) which took place in Perth, Australia, in February of this year.”
The objective, they add, is to make the island “a regional logistics center that facilitates trade with southern India” because “existing structures are not sufficient.” The president also stressed “the vital need to boost connectivity infrastructure to cope with the projected eight-fold increase in GDP in countries like India by 2050.”
According to economic analysts Shirantha Gamage and Dilusha Hewapathirana, the key driver of the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) is “Sri Lanka’s access to India’s vast goods and services markets.” Entry into the sector will be essential to promote “Indian investments” because Delhi is “a rapidly expanding global growth engine and Sri Lanka must be prepared to benefit from this as a preferred partner and neighbor.”
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