New Colombo harbour project will boost economy

by Ananda KANNANGARA

During an inspection tour at the construction site of the new Colombo Harbour on Thursday Ports and Aviation Deputy Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardene said that the construction work of the project will be completed in April next year. The 6.83 km breakwater along with dredging of the new harbour basin and the navigation channel will increase the arrival of international ships to Sri Lanka next year and also improve the container handling capacity to a greater extent than at present.

According to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), the expansion of Port of Colombo is carried out at a cost of US Dollars 300 million. The depth of the new harbour is 9.5 metres. The new port is constructed within 5,200 hectares of land area. At present over 1,800 strong Sri Lankan labour force including engineers and about 150 foreign workers from Korea and the Philippines are employed in the project.

The public could view the ongoing new port expansion work from the Marine Drive stretch running between Bambalapitiya and Kollupitiya.

Deputy Minister Abeygunawardene said that the new Colombo South Harbour is three times bigger than the existing harbour and a business city will also be constructed within the new port area to enable local businessmen and foreigners to carry out international business activities.

The expansion project was commenced in April 2008 by the Hyundai Engineering Construction Company, Korea, while the construction and operation of South Container terminal is done by the China Merchants Holdings Company and the Aitken Spence PLC Company.