Harbour basin filling next Sunday:

Dream of Hambantota people now a reality

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE in Hambantota

The breakwater Pic: Sudam gunasinghe

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, Deputy Ministers of Shipping and Aviation, Rohitha Abeygunawardane and Dayasritha Tissera and Chairman, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Dr. Priyath Wickrama, at the Port site Pix by Shirajiv Sirimane

World maps have been frequently changed due to natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes, tidal waves, melting of icebergs and volcanoes. Politics too has changed the course of several countries.

However, never in the world have there been examples of development changing the map of a country. However, Sri Lanka has achieved this landmark with the construction of the Hambantota harbour.

The local architects and engineers decided to carve the harbour inland, allowing 1,200 acres of land to be filled by sea water, opening the world's largest international harbour built on land.

Hambantota had been used as a Port for centuries; Sri Lanka used it first to export metal products to Rome and later the Portuguese and Dutch used it to export cardamom, cinnamon and other items. However, with Britain taking over the coastal line, more emphasis was given to develop the Colombo Harbour and the naval activities at Hambantota faded away.

Though all political leaders since independence had realised that Hambantota was located on the international maritime route, from West to East and East to West, and that there had been about 75 sailing vessels calling at Hambantota, in addition to Galle and Colombo, none had the vision to reactivate the port.

Had a harbour been built in Hambantota, Sri Lanka's economy would have flourished and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna would never have had a platform to canvass for two insurrections, in 1971 and 1988/89. One of their main grievances was that Colombo citizens enjoyed all the luxury while Southerners were left in the lurch.

With the opening of the Port, for which the credit should go to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the other infrastructure facilities that are being added, soon people in the city would envy the residents of Hambantota.

Dream of the people

Employment would be in abundance with the building of the port, new airport, new hotels, new convention centre, botanical garden and many other development activities. The new harbour will cover a land area of over 2,000 hectares. It is being built on the site of the old Karagam Lewaya.

Hambantota harbour will relieve pressure on Colombo Port

Construction work at the Port

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, who was also a livewire in pushing this project forward, said the Hambantota port had been a dream of the people of the area for a long time.

"It was President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as Prime Minister, who took concrete action, giving priority to the development of Hambantota as a port," he said.

He said the Government had gone out of its way when relocating the 400 plus families from the port building site. "We paid them compensation which was beyond their expectations. We have also gone to the extent of providing a job for one member from each of these families," he said.

Deputy Minister of Ports and Aviation Dayasritha Tissera said that this once again proves that Government projects and promises are not confined to foundation stones. "The President said he would end the war and he did it; he promised to usher in prosperity to the masses and he has now started this with the mega Hambantota port development project. People would be ever grateful to the Government for opening the Hambantota Port," he said.

Meanwhile, plans are under way to commence the second stage of the Hambantota Port development project in November. It is scheduled to be completed in three years.

Chairman, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Dr. Priyath Wickrama told the Sunday Observer that they are currently negotiating to obtain credit for the project. "We are confident of obtaining the necessary funds for the project as the first stage was successfully completed ahead of schedule. This is a very viable project," he said.

He said over 70,000 ships pass close to Hambantota annually and their main target is to attract at least 7,500 ships. "Colombo's annual ship density is around 6,000, this itself projects the value of the Hambantota Port," he said.

The Exim Bank of China is funding the first phase of the project.

He said on completion of the harbour project, it will provide berthing facilities to 44 ships at a time, whereas the Colombo harbour can provide berthing facilities to only 10 - 12 ships at a time. This would make it the biggest port in South Asia.

The port will be connected to all major roads passing through Hambantota including the Kataragama-Colombo highway. The existing roads will also be widened.

He said the basin of the US$ 437 million port would be filled next Sunday at 10.10 am by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Three ships could be anchored in the port once the first stage of construction is completed. The first ship is expected to call on the port this November.

Built inland

The Hambantota Port was being built inland and its mouth was to be opened up to be filled with sea water. "The port is planned as a service and industrial port and subsequently it could be developed as a transshipment port depending on the increasing cargo volumes," Dr. Wickrama said.

The port will have the two breakwater arms on the seaside to ensure safe navigation and the basin and quay walls within the lagoon called Karagam Lewaya, with an access channel across the Hambantota - Colombo main road.

The main feature of this project is the construction of the quay wall and basin in dry conditions after constructing a cofferdam along the perimeter.

The project includes a gas-fired power plant, ship repair unit, container repair unit, an oil refinery and a bunkering terminal which would be managed by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

The bunkering terminal can handle up to 500,000 metric tonnes of oil products a year. Depending on the requirement, the terminal can be further expanded to one million metric tonnes.

A new port will help relieve pressure on the Colombo port, and also provide services including refuelling, maintenance, logistics and buying provisions and medical supplies to ships that normally take three-and-a-half day detours from their shipping lanes to receive these services .

Many people wanted to witness the building of the port and be a part of history in the making with several thousand people from various parts of the country visiting the venue.

A special observation platform has also been constructed to facilitate these visitors.