Merchant Shipping Secretariat sub office opened in Jaffna today

A Merchant Shipping's sub secretariat office under the Ministry of Ports and Shipping is to be opened today in Jaffna with the participation of Arjuna Ranatunga, Minister of Ports and Shipping. 

The responsibility of regulating the shipping and maritime subjects at the ports in Sri Lanka, is assigned to the Merchant Shipping Secretariat office. This is the first time a sub-office it to be opened. Developing and monitoring the coastal passenger transportation services of the Jaffna peninsula are the fundamental responsibility of this sub-office.

Coastal passenger transportation services is a subject area that is taken under the Ministry of Ports and Shipping. The Ministry of Ports and Shipping have already implemented programs to improve and develop the coastal passenger transportation services between the islands in Jaffna. Therefore, under a proposal of Minister Ranatunga a amount of Rs.50 million is already allocated.

These funds will be deployed to Increasing the quality of vessels used for the coastal passenger transportation service, creation of piers in islands, ensuring the safety of the passengers and for monitoring. By opening this sub-office, in the future many training programs will be carried out to improve and develop the coastal passenger transportation service.