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Development
Sri Lanka's goal, a shipping hub of Asia
By Shirajiv SIRIMANE
 Sri Lanka is on its way to become the Wonder of Asia with several
much needed infrastructure facilities falling in to place one by one.
The Southern Expressway, a key element towards reaching this mark,
was handed over to the people early this month. It would be extended to
the North via Hambantota, linking the international airport and harbour
in the process.
More expressways would be built to link the Colombo Airport, Kandy
and Anuradhapura which would be extended to Jaffna. These highways would
be connected to each other via outer circular roads of which three are
already being constructed. One would be from Kottawa to Kaduwela while
the other two would be from Kadawatha to Kaduwela and to Kerawalapitiya.
Each link road would be around 9 km. Several key power generation
projects too were completed, helping the country emerge from the dark
days of power cuts.
For centuries Sri Lanka had played a prominent role on the silk
route. However, after Independence attention was not paid to consolidate
this position; the three harbours in Colombo, Trincomalee and Galle did
not see much development. It was under the present Government that, for
the first time in history, five international harbours started being
built including the upgrading of three ports and two new harbours in
Hambantota and Oluvil.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the ground breaking ceremony of
the container terminalon Friday. Pic: Sudath Silva |
Investors of the US$ 500 million Colombo South Container
Terminal receiving the BOI agreement at the signing ceremony.
From left: Aitken Spence PLC Deputy Chairman and CEO J M S Brito,
China Merchant Holdings Deputy Managing Director Nelson Liu, BOI
Acting Chairman and Director General E. de Silva, Sri Lanka
Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrama and BOI Board
Member Anura Jayasinghe. Pic:Sumanachandra Ariyawansa |
For three decades, the shipping industry requested successive
governments to expand the Colombo Harbour since the Port was getting
congested and the waiting times for ships to enter the port was getting
longer.
Due to this, President Mahinda Rajapaksa took the bold decision of
building the Colombo South Harbour container terminal which is expected
to be completed in 2013.
While the expansion was under way, Colombo International Container
Terminals Limited, a key part of this project too got off the ground
with the Board of Investment and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority signing
an agreement to develop and operate the Colombo South Container
Terminal. The total investment for the project is Rs. 50 billion (US$
500 million). China Merchant Holdings will invest 55 percent of the cost
while Aitken Spence PLC will contribute 30 percent and the Sri Lanka
Ports Authority 15 percent.
Quay length
Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama said
the terminal comprises a total quay length of 1.2 km and will be
completed in two stages. "We will start operations after the completion
of the first 600 metres," he said. "The entire project is expected to be
completed in 14 months. With the development of Sri Lanka as a maritime
hub, we need to expand our capacity. We can also give more facilities
for investors to come and invest," Wickrama said.
Around 1,500 direct employment opportunities and a large number of
indirect employment opportunities will be created. This will also
increase the inflow of foreign exchange to the country from container
services.
The development of the Colombo South Harbour is being implemented
under President Rajapaksa's vision of making Sri Lanka a shipping hub in
the Asian region.
The agreement for one of the largest Foreign Direct Investment
project will strengthen Colombo's status as the premier shipping hub of
South Asia into the 21st century. Construction of the container terminal
will commence this month.
Flagship project
The expansion of the Port of Colombo has been identified by the
Government as a flagship development endeavour in the current decade,
targeted at giving Colombo a competitive edge over other regional ports.
The Phase 1 of Colombo South Harbour, envisaging three terminals of over
1,200m in length, each to accommodate four berths alongside depths of 18
metres with provision to be deepened to 23 metres to accommodate deeper
draft vessels in the future, is scheduled to be carried out in stages.
The first stage involves the development of basic infrastructure with
public funds, i.e. the breakwater, which by now is over 66 percent
complete. The second stage involves the construction of the South
Container Terminal on a BOT basis with Public-Private Partnership
(PPP).The ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the first
container terminal of the Colombo South harbour was inaugurated by
President Rajapaksa on Friday morning.
Deputy Minister of Ports and Highways, Rohitha Abeygunawardena,
Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Yang Xiuping, and Chairman of Sri Lanka
Ports Authority Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama also attended the inaugural
function. The Colombo South Harbour Project has been launched as an
extension to the Colombo harbour.
The South Container Terminal, when completed, will provide a harbour
basin of 18m depth, to accommodate most modern container mega ships. It
will have a handling capacity of 2.4 million Twenty Foot Equivalent
Units (TEUs). When Phase 1 of the project becomes fully operational with
three such terminals each having a capacity of 2.4 million TEUs, it will
provide an additional 7.2 million TEUs over the existing capacity of the
Port of Colombo, undoubtedly making Colombo the mega shipping hub in
South Asia.
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