SLPA strives to regain control of East Terminal

April 19, 2024

political Current Affairs

SLPA strives to regain control of East Terminal ^Featured

December 29, 2019

In a bid to regain the full management of the East Container Terminal (ECT) of the Colombo International Harbour to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), the President, Prime Minister and the subject Minister Johnston Fernando are to hold a special discussion soon, State Minister of Ports Development Affairs Kanaka Herath said. The previous government signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in May 2019, with India and Japan to jointly develop the ECT. According to the MoC, while the SLPA holds 100% ownership of the terminal, a joint venture formed among the three countries will run the operations of the terminal. However, 51% of the shares of the joint venture company will also be owned by the SLPA.

Before the fall of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government in 2015, the Ministry of Ports had planned to develop the ECT with local funds and had ordered necessary equipment such as cranes to conduct operations. “We had completed 600 metres of the 1,200 terminal and had ordered cranes to the terminal. But during the previous regime nothing happened to develop the terminal. They even stopped the crane order, alleging that it was involved a scam,” he said.
Expecting to receive several cranes in April, ordered for some other project, the Government is willing to utilize them for the ECT development. “The MoC signed with India and Japan is the biggest issue to continue our plan. Therefore, we are trying to get the Terminal back” the State Minister explained.