Work on Oluvil project in progress:

Regional harbours to boost economic growth

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE

When the Hambantota harbour was opened, it was criticised by many sections of the public; some said that Sri Lanka would not have the financial resources to open any more harbours while others said that since President Mahinda Rajapaksa was from Hambantota, all development projects were centred on that area.

If one reads a Central Bank annual report from a decade ago, they would observe that Hambantota was the poorest district in the island and the lowest in terms of per capita income. Thus, the construction of a port in Hambantota will be an important catalyst for major economic development in Sri Lanka and will reduce the prevailing higher unemployment rate in the Hambantota region.

In a bid to usher in prosperity to Hambantota, several development projects were launched which included an international airport and cricket stadium. This has helped the down-trodden and ‘looked down upon’ Hambantota to be a major contributor to the national economy.

Regional harbours

President Rajapaksa, in keeping with his promise to develop Sri Lanka, launched the Oluvil harbour project, to usher in prosperity to the Eastern Province similar to Hambantota in the South.

Unlike the Hambantota harbour project though, Oluvil is being developed as a commercial and fisheries harbour. The Government has invested over eight billion rupees towards this project which is to be opened end of this year.

Several foreign investors have already confirmed that they would be setting up industries at this port. This includes a canned fish manufacturing facility and cement bagging plant. Over 40 hectares have been set aside within the harbour precincts for the launch of these industries.

One of the biggest advantages of opening regional harbours would be the uniformity in price throughout the country. Today, items such as fuel and gas are sold at different prices in the provinces after the addition of transport charges and the regional harbour network would allow international ships to unload cargo in these harbours, minimising the transportation of goods from Colombo. Another advantage is it would help more exports and eliminate the middle-man since the producer can go direct to the harbour. A loan agreement for the harbour project was signed between Nordea Bank, Denmark and the Ministry of Finance and Planning of Sri Lanka on May 23, 2008. However, the construction work, which remained slow, has now picked up under the Negenahira Navodaya program, launched to expedite the development activities in the region and top priority has been assigned for the Oluvil Development Project. Today the road network is almost complete. The ice plant in the harbour premises has also been completed. “Land and infrastructure development of the harbour is almost complete, including nearly 95 percent of the breakwater,” an official from the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said.

South-eastern link

“This port will form the south-eastern link in the developing chain of coastal harbours in the country and will provide more convenient and cost effective access to and from the south-eastern region for goods and cargo originating on the west coast,” he said. Over 750 boats can be accommodated at the harbour while three ships too can be anchored at a time.

When completed, the harbour will have all facilities to carry out fisheries-related industries including fish processing plants, fish auction sheds and net mending plants. The proposed project comprises the construction of a commercial harbour and a basin for the fishing craft and would cover a land area of 60ha in the first stage and 105ha in the second stage.

The harbour basin would cover an area of 16ha of the sea and would spread 1.2km along the coastline.

Meanwhile, the Colombo South Harbour Development Project too is in progress to add capacity to the Colombo Harbour. The proposed harbour has three terminals each with a 1,200m length and facilities to accommodate three berths alongside.The proposed small boat harbour at the end of the secondary breakwater has a 400m long quay wall. New buildings for a pilot station and crew accommodation are to be constructed at the head of the secondary breakwater.

The Hambantota Port is already an attraction for car carriers and other vessels and the second stage too has commenced. In view of the deeper berths and location advantages at Hambantota, it may be possible to attract most of the port-related industries. Since the maximum draft at Colombo is about 10m for general cargo vessels, manufactures may invest at Hambantota to get the advantage of “economies of scale.”

The Trincomalee harbour is the second best natural harbour in the world and the available water and land area is about 10 times bigger than the Port of Colombo. Trincomalee was tentatively identified to cater to bulk and break bulk cargo and port-related industrial activities including heavy industries, tourism and agriculture. At present the SLPA is in the process of re-developing Trincomalee as a metropolis growth centre. The SLPA has received several proposals from potential international and local investors for an industrial park and tourism zone under the Trincomalee Port City Development Project. The Galle harbour would be developed as the region’s first tourist harbour and the work is already in progress. The Galle city is gifted with many attractions, such as coastal beds with pure blue oceans and coral reefs, tropical rain forests, many legends, the colossal Dutch Fortress, a world heritage site and archaeological artefacts making it a leisure land, a pleasing environment to any exhausted body.

Galle harbour

The Galle Port is the only Sri Lankan port that provides facilities for pleasure yachts. The International Yacht Society has recognised the Galle Port as one of the world’s best attractions. The increase in the number of arrivals of these yachts has revived the tourism industry of the country in general and Galle in particular.

The facilities provided to yachts at the Galle Port had been damaged during the tsunami and the proposed development is to provide a fully fledged yacht marina for the Galle Port to facilitate the calling yachts as well as to attract more yachts. This development of the Port of Galle as a tourist destination will act as a catalyst to economic growth of the Southern region of Sri Lanka.

At the next stage, berthing facilities will be provided for passenger cruise ships (Phase II). A yacht lifting facility and yacht repair workshop will also be provided.

[Oluvil project at a glance]

Contractor: MTHOJGAARD, Denmark

Project details:-

Date of commencement: July 1, 2008
Contract period: 27 months

Estimated cost (Stage-1): Euro 46.1 million

Source of Funding: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark (DANIDA)

[Project features ]

Stage I - Commercial Harbour
Harbour basin for 5000 DWT ships
Breakwater length -1320 m
Harbour Basin Depth -8 m
Quay wall - 330 m

Total water area - 10 ha

Other facilities -Pilot station, fabricated warehouse, administration building, engineering staff building, officers’ quarters, police station, canteen and toilet blocks.

Fishery harbour small craft basin depth -3 m
Quay wall (small craft)- 220 m
Total water area - 6 ha

Other facilities - Ice plant and cold storage facilities, fish auction halls, refrigerated storage, net mending facilities and administration and building facilities.

Stage II – Development of the harbour to cater to 16,000 ton ships.

Increasing harbour basin depth to 11 m.
Construction of additional 470 m. quay wall and other structures.