The Shippers’ Academy Colombo has organised a forum to understand the RDA’s development plans, timelines etc. to educate the local and the international investors who are gearing themselves for vibrant opportunities beyond 2020 as the country prepares itself to be a major logistics and a manufacturing hub in the Indian ocean. The forum will be held on March 21 from 9am to 12pm at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce auditorium, chairman and his staff from RDA are expected make presentation with a discussion to follow.
Sri Lanka’s geographical position with three major ports along the east west shipping corridor is making it a more viable and a cost-effective logistics hub in the Indian ocean. Being a small island, having international ports in the east, south and the west, the country can be a great facilitator for international clients to set up distribution centres to connect many continents by sea and air for large volumes of small consignments. Currently this business is thriving in Singapore and Dubai. However, Sri Lanka has a unique advantage being in between these two hubs. Not only Sri Lanka is cost effective, but it connects east-west with a speed that other hubs that cannot match.
The location also gives the positioning advantage for manufacturing as well, as raw materials and finished goods can be connected to the east-west shipping and aviation routes to service international retail markets. To achieve this hub status, certain infrastructure is needed to facilitate manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.
A strong road network is among that priority list. In the long run they need to connect the major ports and airports and in the medium term, increase domestic transfer speed between production, warehousing and ports. The Road Development Authority (RDA), for the last decade has taken many initiatives, where some projects have been completed, other being completed and future networks are being planned.
It is important that banks, investors, exporters, logistics companies understand the domestic transport network development to position and plan their investments to fit into the national master plan of road, highways network.
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