The Sethusamudram project is aimed at shortening the sailing time between ports on the eastern and western coasts of India by cutting a 104-mile channel in the shallow sea off the country's southern coast. Ships following the Indian coastline now have to make a detour around Sri Lanka.

Officials from the southern Tuticorin port, which is implementing the project, plan to choose a lender this week after meeting bankers in Singapore and Hong Kong, said C. Natarajan, the port's head of finance. He declined to name the candidates.

The dredging project, originally conceived by British colonialists in 1860, was never implemented as successive governments doubted its economic benefits. At least 15 surveys were conducted in as many decades, with fluctuating cost estimates and doubts about environmental safety.

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