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Plans are underway to construct a bridge connecting Sri Lanka and India within the next five years. The bridge will link Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Rameswaram in South India. The sea crossing between Rameswaram and Talaimannar is only around 32km. It is believed a natural land bridge did exist in ancient times linking the two countries. The now non-existent causeway was referred to as Adam’s Bridge. According to the Hindu legend Ramayana, this bridge was used by Hanuman to follow Ravana in his bid to rescue Sita. Expressing the idea behind the project, Arjuna Mahendran, the Chairman of BOI said that most island states such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Rotterdam in Holland or even the UK always try to link up with the larger continent, to develop trade, tourism and investment. ‘As Hong Kong is the gateway to China, we want to make Sri Lanka the gateway to India especially to Southern India. Four Indian southern states i.e. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh and Karnataka are the fastest growing regions in India. North India is growing at about 3 percent while these states are growing at around 7 percent GDP annually. So Sri Lanka would benefit greatly if we link up with these Southern Indian states’’ “The project will probably take around five years. The feasibility study would begin this year. An Indo-Lanka Joint Committee will commence the study when the Foreign Ministers from both the countries meet in early April this year. Once the feasibility is done, which may take about a year, we can begin construction by around early next year”, the chairman concluded.
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