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| Sunday, 16 June 2002 |
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India to bear full cost of repairs to Trinco oil tanks by ANTON NONIS India agrees to bear the full cost of the repairs to the commercially and strategically viable oil tank farm in Trincomalee on which the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in India last Monday. According to Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) sources, the repairs are to be carried out soon to put the tanks into use in the shortest possible time. According to CPC Dep. General Manager (Planning and Development), Ranjith Wickremasinghe, these tanks located in the China Bay, are classified as the lower tank farm and the upper tank farm. Those in the lower tank farm, number 15 tanks and are in cleared area. The upper ones are in thick jungle and consist of 86 tanks. All tanks are identically built, each having a capacity of 10,000 metric tonnes. Built by the British Navy during the time of the 2nd World War were mainly for storing oil for supply into ships. Subsequently, the tanks were transferred to the Sri Lanka Government during the early 1950s. With the eruption of the ethnic conflict, the tanks were totally abandoned for a period of about 20 years. Before that, even only two tanks had been in use for the country's requirements, according to Wickremasinghe. Repairs on the tanks are necessary as a result of corrosion. At present, the India Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOC) is yet to decide how the tanks are going to be put into use. CPC presumes that a major portion of the tanks would be ready for use as a storage facility before the year is out. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has said that the oil tank farm would be of mutual benefit for both, Sri Lanka and India. |
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