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Hambantota port to get off the ground within 3 months

by ANTON NONIS

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has given his assurance on making effective, the work on an international harbour in Hambantota within the next three months.

This subject had been raised many times and was too stale during the last regime. Once constructed, analysts predict, it would be an answer to many economic problems in the country.

The international harbour is a gigantic task that the planners opt to do in stages. The project is estimated to cost billions of rupees. However, the Government is confident of receiving sufficient foreign investment to make it a reality.

The idea for an international harbour in this location arose when it was seen that a large number of ships, sometimes over 200 a day, bypass Sri Lanka. The main aim of the harbour was to attract this shipping fleet and reap its benefits.

Luckily for the country, a major shipping lane lies across Hambantota. However, it was unfortunate that nothing concrete had been done to tap this mass of wealth resulting in it going waste all these years.

Most of these ships may be needing essentials such as bunkering facilities, water quotas, food supplies for the crew or even repairs on their vessels. All these facilities could be provided in Colombo which is only 90 miles away from Hambantota. However, investigations have revealed that the ships, instead of taking the `U' turn to Colombo, preferred to travel to the next port of call in Singapore, a distance of 1600 nautical miles.

It has also been shown that insufficient space and also congestion in the Colombo Port had discouraged shippers to a great extent. The need for a port of international standard at this turn-off point had also been felt by the British as early as 1936. On this score, it is felt that this was something overdue.

Hambantota has a depth of 20 metres which could be reached within one kilometre from the shore. Depth of water is of great importance in the construction of ports. As future generation ships keep on getting larger, sufficient depth near the shore becomes essential. This way, the intended port could cater to any type of ship coming for anchoring, says Master Divers Chairman Ariyaseela Wickremanayaka, who is an expert on underwater sea activities.

The 20-metre depth in Colombo could be achieved only at a distance of eight kilometres in sea. In Galle, one has to go still further, about 10 km. Although there had been plans to upgrade the Galle harbour to cater to larger ships at one time, the rocky sea bottom had proved an obstacle for this. Attempts to deepen the sea bottom were abandoned as the costs were expected to be too high.

Analysts have discovered that unlike in Colombo, the question of congestion would not arise in Hambantota. Shipping circles believe that Hambantota could be developed as a well-planned, fully integrated port-city.

According to Southern Development Minister Ananda Kularatne, the port could be built to handle at least 36,000 ships annually. It is felt that a port built accordingly would not become outdated within this millennium.

Although there is a severe shortage of land in Colombo and Galle, Hambantota has about 68,000 hectares of barren land. This could be used for development.

Though this area is endowed with many resources, it is still the least developed in the country. The avenues for agricultural production including rice, low country vegetables and bananas are tremendous.

Analysts believe that developmental projects would create thousands of new employment opportunities, both direct and indirect. In spite of a wealth of natural and human resources, some of the highest rates of unemployment are still seen in Hambantota which proves that "Ruhuna is rich, but the people in Ruhuna are too poor."

An international port in Hambantota is an issue that no government could avoid. Analysts say that the term 'development' will have no meaning if this issue is not considered.

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