Raja Edirisuriya, new Executive Project Management Director for Port City 

Mr. Raja Edirisuriya

Engineer Raja Edirisuriya has been appointed the new Executive Project Management Director for the Colombo Port City Development Project. 

This appointment was made as per a cabinet decision on a paper submitted by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Urban Development & Housing. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Edirisuriya was serving as the Chairman of the Urban Settlement Development Authority (USDA), according an official government statement. 

A civil engineer by profession, Mr. Edirisuriya obtained his Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, specializing in structural engineering from Rutgers University NJ, USA. He also went on to acquire his Masters in public administration at University of La Verne, California. As a professionally registered civil engineer in California, he has held the prestigious position of Administrator and City Engineer for almost 16 years with the city of Chino, California.

“In early 2006, Mr. Edirisuriya was appointed as the chairman of the then ailing construction giant, Sri Lanka State Engineering Corporation (SEC). With his sheer dedication and commitment along with the supporting staff, this organisation was resurrected within a short period of nine months. Under Mr. Edirisuriya’s chairmanship, the corporation turned a profit of Rs.103 million at the end of the 2006 financial year. This was the first time that SEC showed a profit since 1981,” the statement said.

In December 2009, on a request made by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Mr. Edirisuriya accepted the Chairmanship of Mihin Lanka Airlines in order to resume the company’s operations after it had been grounded for some time.

Mr. Edirisuriya has also served as the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Surinam. 

The Colombo Port City Development Project was recently gazetted as a National Prioritized Project directly supervision by the Presidential Secretariat with other relevant ministries. Having completed the initial development stage of reclamation and breakwater construction, the Port City is currently at the infrastructure development stage 1 which covers the internal roads and utility connections construction. The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act which is the much anticipated regulatory framework for Port City is expected to be enacted by the Parliament before the end of this year.