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Port projects are open for any country: SLPA Chairman
View(s):Any country was free to bid for the proposed third terminal at the Colombo Port and the many other terminals that are being planned for Hambantota Port, said Priyath B Wickrama, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman.
“We know that,” he said, when asked whether he was aware that India was concerned about China’s growing foothold in Sri Lanka — particularly the country’s ports. But the process is open. “We have a third terminal at Colombo Port,” he asserted. “They can bid for it. No issue at all. Even in Hambantota, there are many terminals to come. This is only Phase I and Phase II with 11 berths but there are 20 more.”
India has expressed concern at the highest levels about China’s interests here. The arrival of Chinese naval vessels, including a submarine which is due back at the Colombo Port, caused particular alarm. There is consensus among diplomats of several countries that, if the agreements were purely commercial, there was no need for such secrecy. Other companies build and leave. Chinese companies — which are all state-run and are an extension of Chinese foreign policy — build and stay, particularly in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Wickrama did not want a discussion on geopolitics or strategy, saying it was not his area. But he did say that, in Sri Lanka, Chinese companies “have to follow our directives”. “In our tenders, we have clearly specified what they can do and they cannot do. They can only do container handling.”
Colombo Port was built by the Japanese, he pointed out: “Even if you take Hambantota, we discussed this with the Indian Government long before. But the Chinese came, said they will give and they gave. For us, we can’t keep waiting to do things. We never reserved it for China. It was open. Even Colombo terminal was an international tender.”
The Colombo Port City — which is causing jitters because it will be “a little China” off Galle Face Green for 99 years — was an investment. “That was open to everyone,” he said. “Who came first?” It has been widely reported, however, that the project had been an unsolicited tender that became public only once Cabinet approved it.
Western Governments have been openly critical of deal-making behind closed doors. Most recently, David Daly, Ambassador of the European Union to Sri Lanka, said that the government was entertaining more unsolicited proposals for large projects and that this compromised transparency.
Dr. Wickrama said Trincomalee Port would be SLPA’s next target. It would be an industrial port, just as Colombo was a transhipment hub and Hambantota was a logistics port. There was presently no demand for Trincomalee.
Hambantota Port was now doing well, Dr. Wickrama claimed. “Our monthly revenue is about Rs. 1.2 billion, not only from car carriers but from bunkering and other activities,” he said. He declined to say to which countries the vessels seeking bunkering services belonged. But he said 85 per cent were new ships that had never called at Colombo for fuelling before.
“Basically, they operate between the Indian East Coat and Africa,” he said. “They were earlier going to India or Singapore but now they are coming to Hambantota because of the location and pricing.”