John Keells Holdings confirms proposed involvement in West Terminal of Colombo Port

John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) on Monday confirmed its involvement in the soon-to-be-started West Container Terminal (WCT) of the Colombo Port, as the local partner of the Indian developer.

In a disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange, JKH said it was the local partner of the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) that a consortium consisting of APSEZ and JKH received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from the Ministry of Ports and Shipping and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, acting on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, to develop and operate the WCT in the Port of Colombo as a public private partnership project pursuant to the approval granted by the Cabinet of Ministers.

“The WCT is a part of Colombo’s south port development - WCT is a deep-water terminal with an alongside depth of 20 metres and annual capacity of approximately 3 million TEUs. A concession agreement is expected to be executed in due course. JKH will have a material equity stake in the project,” JKH Deputy Chairman Gihan Cooray said in a statement. The two parties were earlier engaged in investing in the East Container Terminal which was later abandoned after the government said I would be developed by state.