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| Sunday, 7 November 2004 |
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Chinese assistance for Hambantota Port Chinese assistance is sought to develop Hambantota Port and initial talks have been already held in Beijing said, Dileepa Wijesundera, Chairman, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, in an exclusive interview with the SUNDAY OBSERVER staffer M.P. Muttiah.
Dileepa Wijesundera, who visited China recently, said he had held fruitful talks with the Chinese authorities to develop Hambantota Port. These talks would continue in the future. His primary aim of the visit was to have discussions with the Chinese Shipping Lines to promote business. Answering a question on the present targets of the Authority, the Chairman said that concentration was on the increase of productivity. Any new efforts could not be a witch hunt. "If we witch hunt it would be a waste of time and energy. Now obvious changes have been made in the Port. Progress is considerable, he said. Answering a question about the Terminal Management System, the Chairman said, the Ports Authority could have signed a 10 million US dollar contract and obtained the services of a consultant spending another two million US dollars. Then nobody would have questioned. But, now the Authority has decided to save nearly 400 to 600 million rupees, as the authority wanted to stop such waste, and use local currency. This has delayed the process. Considerable changes were made in the Terminal Management System. But the progress was not fast enough. Regarding the affect of increase in oil prices, Wijesundera said the Authority had to absorb most of the fuel charges. He said the attention was focussed on the increase of productivity at the Trincomalee Port. The Government could not find money to provide the development of Ports, it was the duty of the Ports to generate income, profit and increase its dividends to the State. In the past there were several mistakes. Some equipment that were installed had been removed, but the payment had to be made. `Therefore, the Ports Authority concentrates more on financial management and human resource utilisation. In this respect more attention is paid to the working conditions of the workforce', he said. Answering a question whether vessels have to wait outside harbour for days, the Chairman said the situation had changed with the Port of Colombo Project. Two jetties, namely SGAT and JCT were not coordinating in the past. Now, whichever Jetty was free, berth was allowed to vessels and thus has reduced considerable disappointments with the shipping lines. The main aim of the project was not to allow the customer to suffer and increase the capacity of Colombo Port. Answering a question on the achievements of Colombo Port, the Chairman said that it handled 200,000 transhipment units in July, and exceeded further in August this year. `This would enhance the capacity of the Port to handle 1.92 million transhipment units per year. 'All these were achieved harnessing the efforts of the workforce. Now better co-ordination and co-operation between the management and the workforce exist. There is appreciation from the employees. This enables the management to concentrate more on the development,' Dileepa Wijesundera added. |
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