Hambantota in the forefront:

President's influence spurs development

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Sri Lanka's development was stalled for many decades as the country's former Heads of State did not want to compromise their popularity by taking controversial decisions and risk re-election.

Whenever a controversy arose during a major development project, the leaders bowed down to various elements and decided to skip the project. This happened for decades, resulting in many infrastructure projects being neglected.

This also resulted in foreign investors shying away from Sri Lanka, resulting in the loss of foreign direct investments.

One leader who observed this negative scenario from his youth was Mahinda Rajapaksa. He saw and experienced how successive governments cold-shouldered the Hambantota Port project which was first proposed by D.A. Rajapaksa in the 1950s.

Various excuses were put forward, resulting in the project being delayed by nearly 50 years. The irony was that the construction of the port would not have had any negative impact on society.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was selected the fifth most influential leader in the world last week, got the project moving and the first phase is now completed. He got the much needed funds, got China Harbour Construction Company involved and the project was completed ahead of time.

The oil tank farm and bunkering facility would be ready by June and ships would arrive, heralding a new era for this under-privileged province which has been looked down for centuries.

The bunkering facility will comprise 14 tanks. Eight tanks will be used to provide oil for ships while three will be used to store LP gas. The rest of the tanks will be used to provide oil for aircraft to meet the demand created after the opening of the Mattala International Airport by the end of next year.

The project will cost USD 76,581,774 and China Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation Works would be the contractor.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa inspecting a development project

Matara highway

The Mattala Airport project

Norochcholai project

Sangupiddy bridge linking Jaffna with Pooneryn

The tank farm will include two 10,000 mt tanks, which will hold a combined 20,000 mt of aviation fuel and three tanks to store 7,000 mt of LPG. The rest of the tank farm will include tanks of various sizes, which will hold a total of over 55,000 mt of bunker fuel.

Currently, the only onshore bunker fuel terminal in the country, at Port Colombo, consists of 12 tanks that can hold a combined 33,000 mt of bunker fuel.

With four other international harbours simultaneously being developed in line with the Mahinda Chinthana Sri Lanka was slowly but surely transforming itself to a maritime hub for the region.

The Mahinda Chinthana was clear on the ending of the conflict and that was achieved on May 19, 2009 after a 30-year period.

President Rajapaksa kept this promise as well.

Airlines flying to Sri Lanka were carrying additional fuel and were also taking a risk in doing so. Due to this factor, flying to Sri Lanka is considered a costly affair and some airlines even went to the extent of taking this additional expenditure from the passenger.

More airlines want to include Sri Lanka on their international destination map while others want to add additional frequencies. However, heavy traffic in the Colombo airport has put a check to these plans.

A second airport for the island was being talked about for nearly three decades and venues that were proposed included Matugama, Kurunegala and Embilipitiya.

President Rajapaksa fulfilled the crying need for a second international airport by building it at Mattala.

Longest runway

Its first stage would include the building of Sri Lanka's longest runway (3,500m) and parking bay for 10 aircraft, two aero bridges and other related buildings.

Under the first phase the airport hopes to cater to one million passengers while the cargo movement is expected to be 45,000 mt per annum. A rail link from the airport to the Hambantota harbour too is proposed.

Minister of Power and Energy, Patali Champika Ranawaka said that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had committed two major blunders; first relying only on hydro power and second, depending on thermal power. Whenever there was a drought, the country was in pitch darkness and when fuel prices rose to record highs, the CEB had to pay through its nose.

Due to these factors, the CEB decided to bank on other power sources. One solution was the construction of the Norochcholai power plant. However, no leader wanted to go ahead with the project as it was too controversial. Being the fifth most influential leader in the world, (at the time of writing) President Rajapaksa got the project moving and the first phase is now open.

The first stage of the Norochcholai project would generate 300 megawatts to the national grid and the investment for the total project would be Rs. 155 billion. It would also be in a position to generate a unit of electricity at Rs. 4.75.

Hydro power project

The Minister said that for 15 years, not a single major hydro power project was constructed with the Upper Kotmale project being stalled for nearly 20 years. Once again, it was President Rajapaksa who got the project moving and the first phase is to be completed by the end of the year.

The President negotiated with Japan International Corporate Agency and secured USD 297 million on a 30-year long-term credit, ironing out the other gray area of the project. The Government invested USD 87 million, making the project a reality.

Japanese and Sri Lankan engineers created a special 25 hectare reservoir across the Kotmale Oya and a 35.5 metre tall and 180 metre long dam was built across it. This project would generate 150 megawatts.

The Galle-Matara Highway and Colombo-Katunayake Highway too were in the pipeline for many years. The Colombo-Matara highway, 126 km (78.2 mile), would take a passenger to Matara in less than two hours. It would also have 11 access points starting from Kottawa.

A passenger can take the new highway and reach the airport in 45 minutes. The length of the expressway would be around 25 kilometres starting from the New Kelani Bridge and ending at the Airport Access Road at Katunayake. The total estimated cost for the project is USD 292 million.

The proposed Colombo-Katunayake Expressway will provide a high-speed road link between the Colombo City and the Free Trade Zone and the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake.

The expressway, with four lane carriageways, will include five interchanges at the new Kelani Bridge, Peliyagoda, Kerawalapitiya (connect with Outer Circular Highway), Ja-Ela and Katunayake.The expressway is expected to be completed in 39 months with financial assistance granted by the Chinese Government.

President Rajapaksa has also spearheaded several other development projects especially in the North and the East that were stalled for several decades, ushering in prosperity to the nation and taking the country towards becoming the Wonder of Asia.