Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [Images] will inaugurate the work on the Sethusamudram Canal Project on July two, Union Minister for Shipping and Surface Transport, T R Baalu, said on Wednesday.

Apart from the prime minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images] and all Union ministers from Tamil Nadu would attend the function, he told reporters in Madurai after releasing the SSCP logo, designed by the National Institute of Fashion Design.

Invitations would also be sent to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala, parliamentarians and legislators of Tamil Nadu, Baalu said.

He also released a picturesque design of the SSCP project office, to be set up at Mandapam on a 10,000 sq ft area, for which the state government has been approached for land.

Baalu also said that the memorandum of understanding with the Suez Canal Company had been initialled by the Chairman of the Tuticorin Port Trust, K Raghupathy and that it would be ratified at the ministerial level in Chennai, at a time to be fixed later.

The areas of cooperation under the MoU include exchange of information, expertise and technological advancements, which will facilitate and promote the construction, operation and management of SSCP.