land passage would have several advantages, such as avoiding shifting sandbanks and navigational hazards. Several reviews of the proposals followed until the United Progressive Alliance Government of India headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the inauguration of the project on 2 July 2005. In 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed Rajendra K. Pachauri as the head of a six-member committee to look at an alternative alignment avoiding the sensitive Ramar Sethu stretch. In 2013, the committee released its report calling the project "unviable both from the economic as well as ecological angles". The Indian government rejected the committee's report and decided to go ahead with the project in its current form. In 2014, the Modi government decided that the project would be implemented by deepening the Pamban pass which would save the Rama Setu from destruction. the project remains unfinished. In July 2020, parliamentary leader T. R. Baalu presented a letter to Prime Minister Modi urging him to finish the project before 2024. In the letter, Baalu cited tensions between India and China over influence in Sri Lanka, claiming that China will gain too strong of a diplomatic and economic foothold in Sri Lanka if the Indian government does not continue development in the region. In March 2021 the closure of the project was announced. On 12th January 2023, the Tamilnadu Government unanimously passed a rezolution demanding that the project be revived. Alignments suggested by earlier committees Issues Economic Some naval hydrographers and experts suggest that the project is unlikely to be financially viable or serve ships in any significant way. The time savings for ships sailing from Kanyakumari or Tuticorin is between 10 and 30 hours. Ships from destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Mauritius and Europe, would save an average of 8 hours using the canal. At the present tariff rates, ships from Africa and Europe will lose on every voyage because the savings in time for these ships are considerably lower than what is calculated in the DPR. This loss is significant because 65% of the canal's projected users are from Africa and Europe. If tariffs are lowered to a point where ships from Africa and Europe will not lose money from using the canal, the IRR of the project falls to 2.6%. This is a level at which even public infrastructure projects are rejected by the government. The canal is designed for ships of 30,000