Chennai, June 20: The Sethusamudram ship canal, to be dredged between India and Sri Lanka, could be an environmental threat to the south Kerala coast, a Canadian expert has told the Tuticorin Port Trust chairman in a letter.

Earlier, too, environmentalists had warned of disastrous consequences on the marine ecosystem of Sri Lanka, saying the dredging could spell doom for fishermen of both countries. Another concern was that the canal project, on which the government will spend Rs 2,427.40 crore, was in an area susceptible to tsunami turbulence.

However, N.K. Raghupathy, the chairman of the Tuticorin Port Trust, the nodal agency for the project, has said the canal’s modified design has comprehensively addressed all environmental concerns, including the apprehensions expressed by Sri Lanka. He said the Canadian expert’s doubts had also been clarified but did not reveal more.

According to the new design, the alignment of the canal has been modified slightly to help reduce the volume of dredging by 5.5 million cubic metres, Raghupathy said. Also, due to the change in alignment, the canal will be equidistant from the Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka coasts and all the dredged material will be dumped in Indian waters, he said.

Raghupathy showed footage from a CD, prepared by the Japanese National Institute of Science and Technology, on the movement of tsunami waves following the December 26 earthquake.

He pointed out that the pictures clearly showed the project area “was free from tsunami turbulence”.

The Sethusamudram project, when complete, will nullify the need for ships to circumnavigate Sri Lanka while sailing from India’s west towards the east. This will save a day’s travel time and significant amount of fuel and also catalyse the development of all ports in India, Raghupathy said.

The port trust chief referred to another list of environment and tsunami-related objections, which were raised in an article in the Economic and Political Weekly.

Raghupathy said 13 issues were raised in the article, which went right up to the level of the Prime Minister’s Office, but claimed that “they are not real issues”. He added that the port trust had cleared the doubts and replied to all the technical points before a committee of the Union ministry for environment and forests.