An agreement was signed between Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), John Keells and Adani Group on Friday to develop the West Port Terminal and the work began immediately, said Port and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.
He made this proposal to President Ranil Wickremesinghe when presenting the North Port Development Plan on Friday at BMICH. Minister also said “My persistent view is that the North Port must be managed privately whereas the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will be the landlord who will regulate the operations.” Speaking at the occasion the Minister also said that North Port Development is recommended as a lucrative financially liable and technically feasible Project according to consultants appointed by Asian Development Bank who funded the feasibility study.
He invited local shipping magnates and foreign investors to take part in this venture for a win-win situation. The Minister also said that a colossal amount of money has been allocated to invest in the development of JCT and East Container Terminal and commended ADB for the great support rendered to the government of Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, addressing the event President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that in addition to Colombo Port Sri Lanka has the Galle Port, which has great potential for tourism, the Hambantota Port and the Trincomalee Port. With regard to the Trincomalee Port, we are discussing with India on the development of the Trincomalee Port on the basis that in the next 25 years there will be vast development in the Bay of Bengal, both on the Indian side, the Bangladeshi side, Malaysia and even Myanmar.”
“So we have to look at the Trincomalee Port and also its capacity to be a point for cruise tourism in the Bay of Bengal. At the moment we have the port at Hambantota functioning not at its full capacity, but for the development in Hambantota in the next 10 – 15 years, about 4,000 acres will be set aside just for manufacturing not taking into account the development of agriculture and fisheries. This will mean that the fact that there’s going to be at least one refinery indicates that the activities there will increase.”
The President cautioned that people should remember that the Chinese are undertaking East to West Railways in Africa together with the African nations.
“One which will go from Kenya all the way to the West African coast and another which will most probably go through Congo. So the whole logistics and transport in the region will change and we have to take that into account and make whatever adjustments to ensure that Sri Lanka becomes the hub of the Indian Ocean. We can do it as we did over a thousand years ago.”