Baalu selects Madurai for inaugurating Sethu project

The venue for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project has been finalised. It is neither Thoothukudi nor Rameswaram, the implementation sites, but an inland location — Madurai. The ceremony will take place in July first-week.

The exact date of the function would be announced later, Union Minister of Shipping Road Transport and Highways T.R. Baalu said on Saturday.

He said the venue was finalised keeping in view ‘‘security reasons and transport connectivity’’.

The project office would be established at Mandapam in Ramnad district and a request has been put up to the state government for land acquisition in this regard, the Union Minister said.