Changing Sri Lanka's geographical map

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE

The much awaited sea water filling of the Magampura Harbour Basin was completed yesterday when 400 metres of the old Colombo-Kataragama road was taken off linking the basin with the sea heralding a new era of the South Asian Port history.

This is the first in land harbour being built and the engineers first used a special channel to fill sea water to the Prot and yesterday the 400 metre stretch which separated the port from the sea was removed.

This made history in the global port construction sphere and with every current of water that fills the port basin, the idyllic climax of the Port of Magampura becoming a fully-fledged hub in the region is becoming nearer and dearer to all Sri Lankans. It is expected that the first vessel will touch the waters of the Port of Magampura by the end of November, this year.

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and MP Namal Rajapaksa too visited the site yesterday to get a first hand experience of the Port.

The harbour, which has the capacity for three ships in the first stage, has already filled 43 hectares with a height of 16 metres with water now. The estimated cost of the harbour project funded by the Chinese government is US $ 360 million. The first ship is expected to be in Port in November.

Commercial harbour

The Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) Chairman Dr. Priyath Wickrama said that every plan for the Ports of Sri Lanka have been formulated with a view to developing Sri Lanka as a Commercial Hub, which could serve as a key link between the East and the West, using our strategic geographical location effectively.

Nagampura harbour filling up with sea water

Sea water gushing in

"I firmly believe that our organisation, would be a strong contributor to the socio-economic advancement of the country which will undoubtedly be resulting from the successful culmination of its current gigantic projects and would eventually be able to shoulder the task of elevating Sri Lanka to the status of the premier maritime and logistics centre of the region."

He also disclosed that SLPA recorded its highest ever monthly container volume (201,217 TEUs) in the month of August 2010 and this heralds a great future ahead of us".

And to mention a few of them, the Colombo Port Expansion Project has been expedited and the development work at Oluvil port is also expected to reach its culmination by the end of this year.

The Port of Galle is also being developed as a cruise destination with a view to reaping the economic benefits of the lucrative tourism industry which is now booming in Sri Lanka.

Chairman SLPA also had another personal honour when he was voted as one of the recipients to receive the Outstanding Young Persons of Sri Lanka (TOYP) award.

Dr. Wickrama was won this award in recognition of his extraordinary achievements in the realm of "Business, Economic and/or Entrepreneurial Accomplishments" which have satisfied the judges and auditors who worked on an arduous selection criteria.

The world's local bank, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has been in partnership with the Junior Chamber International Sri Lanka (JCISL) to hold the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Sri Lanka Awards annually.

Born in Magampura District, Dr. Wickrama had his preliminary education at Embilipitiya Central College and entered the University of Moratuwa to follow a degree course in engineering.

Dr. Wickrama joined SLPA as a Mechanical Engineer in 2001 and was promoted to the post of Executive Director in 2004. He has made history by being the first permanent-employee-turned-chairman in SLPA. Dr. Wickrama obtained his doctoral degree in Operations Management from the International University of America in the United Kingdom.After assuming duties as the Chairman of the SLPA, Dr. Wickrama introduced a three-Year-Development-Plan, which convincingly set the organisation on the correct track during the time of Global Financial Crisis that hit the entire Shipping Industry. This plan steered SLPA away from many errors that it would have otherwise committed in the crisis period.

Hard work

Dr. Wickrama has been able to implement many port development projects which had not gone beyond just paying lip service in the past, into realities through sheer hard work, unswerving determination and perseverance.

"At this time every plan on the part of Ports of Sri Lanka, has been formulated with a view to developing our motherland as a Commercial Hub, which could serve as a key link between the East and the West, using our strategic geographical location effectively. I share with you that SLPA recorded its highest ever monthly container volume (201,217 TEUs) in the month of August 2010 and this heralds a great future ahead of us".