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ADB to help prepare National Port Master Plan

SLPA to be restructured:

The Asian Development Bank has approved assistance to prepare a National Port Master Plan (NPMP) for Sri Lanka, covering all ports and connected urban and industrial activity as well as multimodal links. The master plan is financed by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.

A key element of the plan will be restructuring the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, to make it more efficient and better able to compete with international port operators, long term shipping and cargo forecasts and priority projects for the ports of Colombo and Trincomalee, according to a Technical Assistance (TA) report of the ADB released last week.

The project will help the government develop a national master plan for its port sector, including the restructuring of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).

The impact of the project will be the realization of the most competitive and preferred ports and shipping destination in the region.

The outcome will be harmonized and balanced port development facilitated in the nation.

The project has two outputs: national port master plan and technical review of the final design of the port access elevated highway. “Maritime related industries have not yet grown in the country, although the Colombo port is a dominant container hub port in South Asia.

In comparison, Singapore has a diverse and large cluster of maritime industries including shipbuilding, ship registration, bunkering, trade credit insurance, vessel charter market, logistics, consulting, and international maritime arbitration.

The presence of such a cluster reinforces its function and attractiveness as a hub port.

Sri Lanka’s ports need a strategy to foster such auxiliary functions,” the TA adds. A team of ADB officials conducted a fact-finding mission in May/June this year and key aspects of the TA were discussed with officials of the government, SLPA, and other stakeholders.

Sri Lanka needs to keep strengthening its ports’ capacity and competitiveness by improving infrastructure, operational efficiency, and institutions, in order to maintain its role as a regional transport hub despite severe competition with the ports of other nations. The introduction of larger vessels and the emergence of gigantic container shipping line alliances have exacerbated the competition between international ports.

Due to Sri Lanka’snational economic growth and the rapid growth of international container shipping demand, the country urgently needs to strengthen its port capacity.

Being left behind these recent trends will lead to the loss of economic opportunities and growth impediments in the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation region, the report highlighted.

The Colombo port is constrained due to the urbanization of and growing congestion in Colombo City.

The Colombo port development must cope with urban development on the land side. At the same time, the Colombo port cannot accommodate all development needs due to its limited port area inside the breakwaters.

SLPA is complex, large, and inefficient in comparison with other competing international port operators. The TA will support the government to develop the NPMP and identify priority projects, which will contribute to scaling up future ADB interventions in the nation.

The TA will technically support the government to coordinate with the road sector and ensure that the operation and development of the Colombo port in future will not be unduly constrained by the planned road development which will run through the port, according to the ADB’s Technical Assistance report.

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