The government will go ahead with the proposed Hambantota Port lease deal with China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) by late January, said Minister of International Trade Malik Samarawickrama at a special press conference held yesterday in Colombo.
The minister said that the lease would be for USD1.1 billion and it would be for a period of 99 years. A 20% stake would be held by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. He said that President Maithripala Sirisena and the Cabinet have approved the project.
Samarawickrama said that they will once again re visit this deal in a bid to iron out any disadvantageous points to Sri Lanka. Samarawickrama said the 80 percent stake was also still under negotiation.
The minister also said that in addition to paying US Dollar 1.1 billion CMPH would also invest a further US 600 million to install gantry cranes and port handling equipment and other infrastructure in the Hambantota Port. He also said that they will host a major ceremony next week in Hambantota Harbour to flag off a series of Southern development projects.
Samarawickrama further said that there is a total of over 1,000 acres in the Hambantota Port and in addition economic zones would be set up in several other areas in the Southern province. “We will not take all the land for development in and around the Hambantota Port as accused by the opposition,” he said. Samarawickrama ensured that only less than 5% of land occupied by the people may be used and they would be paid compensation.
Several senior ministers including Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga have also been appointed to study the deal before finalizing it. “We will ink the deal latest by the end of January,” the minister added. Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake said that the US$ 1.1 billion from the Chinese company would firstly be used for debt servicing. “We will first try to settle loans of high interest,” he said. The minister recalled that when the Hambantota Port, Suriyawewa Stadium and the Mattala Airport were built, several families were relocated. The total number of families exceeded 1,500. He questioned as to why people did not make any noise during that time?”
Similarly when the Colombo Port terminals, SAGT and CICT were leased out there was no opposition, he said.
Commenting on the economy Karunanayake said that today the unity government with prudent economic measures has turned the economy around which was in the intensive care unit.
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