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Bridge to Rameshwaram a reality soon, says Karu
By Chandani Kirinde
The bridge linking Sri Lanka and India will soon become a reality, Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya said.

Addressing parliament on Friday, the minister said the 29-kilometre bridge between Mannar and Rameshwaram in South India would not only link Sri Lanka with India but also 24 Asian countries covering more than 90,000 kilometres.
The Minister said that satellite photos taken by US space agency NASA had shown that there was evidence of a man made bridge linking the two sides dating back to several thousand years.

He said the creation of the bridge would be a great boost to the country with an increase in trade and tourism between the two neighbours. He said that essential items such as electricity and gas could be purchased from each other when the need arose and trade with other countries would also increase through the land link. He said that when the bridge was first proposed, it seemed like an impossible dream but today it was on the verge of becoming a reality.

The bridge would be built without taxing the people and the proposals for this had already been forwarded to the government.

The minister also spoke on the historical links between the two countries stating that the bridge between the two countries mentioned in the Ramanaya and the one that King Gajaba travelled to India by parting water were believed to be between Mannar and Rameshwaram.

Indo-Lanka ship service anchored by MoU
The passenger ship service between Sri Lanka and India will not start this week as earlier announced because the two countries are yet to sign a memorandum of understanding, The Sunday Times learns.

The draft MoU had been sent to New Delhi about two weeks ago but the Sri Lankan government had not received a response yet, sources said.

V Ashok, Economic and Commerce secretary of the Indian High Commission, said the delay was due to changes being effected at Tuticorin which was a cargo port. He said once the necessary modifications were done to handle passenger arrivals, the MoU would be signed, Mr. Ashok said.

Immigration officials here said that even the Colombo Port which could handle only a few passengers had to be modified to handle a big passenger flow to and from India. They said the Immigration Department was setting up new arrival and departure counters in the port to cope with the heavy traffic.

Mervyn Perera, Technical Manager of Green Lanka Shipping, told The Sunday Times that they were ready to start the service as soon as the MoU was signed.

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