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Big boost to Southern province:
Hambantota Port to usher in a new era
By Shirajiv Sirimane
The construction of the Hambantota Port
would bring numerous benefits to the Southern Province and the country
as a whole says Director General, of the Hambantota District Chamber of
Commerce (HDCC), Azmi Thassim.
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Azmi Thassim, Director General, HDCC visitng the Hambantota Port
with former Chief Engineer, Janaka Kurukulasuriya. |
"Sri Lanka, as a country, has missed out on several development
opportunities in the past, and the rural areas had largely been
neglected for many decades. This led to the talent from these
underdeveloped areas being lost as people migrated to the Western
Province, looking for better opportunities, and some even left the
country.
Resources in the district had long been under-utilised, and the
bottom line was that poor people who could not go out to find better
opportunities had to keep suffering in silence.
The vast resources of the district remained unexploited, largely as a
result of the over-concentration of the country's development priorities
in the Western Province.
"With a new era dawning on the Southern Province, we have now a lot
of hope for the future as regional development has been given priority
and infrastructure development has become a reality.
The business community in particular, is very confident about the
future, and understand the importance of putting the country first by
getting together and putting aside differences at a time like this for
the sake of the country.
HDCC believes very strongly that we have to work together as a team
and reap maximum benefit of this opportunity for the benefit of our
future generations.
"We are keen to work with the Government at all levels in developing
initiatives to assess the needs of local businesses and the people and
to help them to develop the necessary skills and capacities.
HDCC, as the representative of the business community, would like to
offer its fullest support and cooperation in this regard and also more
in participating in planning, decision-making, implementation etc.
"We would like to take this opportunity to thank His Excellency the
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, The Government of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka
Ports Authority and all other stakeholders who have contributed
immensely to this project to make this project a success.
On a final note, as a business community, we would like to pledge our
fullest cooperation and sincerely appeal for more opportunity for the
private sector to participate in the development process which we
strongly believe will assure the success of the projects and bring more
benefit to local people.
"On behalf of the business community of the Hambantota district, the
Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce(HDCC) offers its best wishes for
the very happy day for the country, and in particular for the Southern
Province, for the joyous occasion of filling water in to the world's
first ever in-land port.
As people of Hambantota, and as citizens of Sri Lanka, we are
extremely proud to be a part of this occasion," Azmi concluded. |
