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| Sunday, 11 July 2004 |
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Rail -based dry ports soon By Hiran H.Senewiratne K Port (Pvt) Ltd will begin Sri Lanka's first ever rail based dry port at Orugodawatta very soon, its Chairman M. Kamil Kuthubdeen said. He said that rail lines have already been laid at the dry port, which is situated in a centrally located ten acre land, which is expected to facilitate the transporting of containers by rail directly from Orugodawatta to the harbour without any hassle, Kuthubdeen said. Meanwhile, the government is also planning to set up two rail- based Dry Ports at Ragama and Ratmalana to regulate container operations in the future. Since the Railway Department has a lot of unutilized lands, it has identified land in Ragama for the purpose. General Manager Railway Department Priyal de Silva said that proposed land at Ragama needs to be developed in infrastructure facilities before work begins. He said that before commencing this operation the railway line has to be developed between Orugodawatta and the Colombo port to operate it on a large scale. De Silva said that once this is developed they could transport containers ten times a day in a flat car, which could carry 40 boxes at a time. This step will avoid congestion and many other obstacles on public roads, he said. However, the authorities plan to transport the containers by train to the two dry ports. It will also provide added revenue to the Sri Lanka Railway Department. Once the project becomes operative, container transport on public roads will be prohibited. It is hoped that the project would be an ideal solution to the present traffic jams. Congestion on the roads hinders development work as time and energy are wasted in travelling . Transport Ministry sources said that World Bank Country Director Peter Harrold and Transport Minister Felix Perera discussed the project recently. Ministry sources said they were optimistic that their proposals would be included in the World Bank Development program in the ensuing year. The Ratmalana dry port will also become a reality in the near future,Port Authority analysts said. |
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