When the Chairman
of the SLPA makes a statement that the (only two births) at the Hamabantota
Harbor are in use, and that ships are waiting in line for bunkering he is just
making a statement and doing his job he is paid to do as a faithful servant. It
is time the Island and the journalist doing the interview understands that and
that it hides a myriad of ills.
For the good doctor
(Priyath has PhD) to say then that the second phase is required as there is no
room for ships is a purely contrived statement to justify the position he has
taken on behalf of his benefactors, and one must look deeper into what all the
fuss was about the Port.
Despite his
confident assertion that it is not, I still state the port as is, is a “White
Elephant”
The reason there
are ships at all is that it is the cheapest port to stop over in just as the
Mattala airport is as well. This is because vessels are permitted to come at
little cost, as it is subsidized by the Govt. or SLPA, just to attract more
ships.
Secondly the Govt.
has forced all car carrying vessels to dock at Hambantota, and that is adding
Rs100,000 to the cost of importing a car, when the expanded Colombo Port has
the capacity to bring them in. The heavy cost in fuel use to get car carriers
to bring them to Colombo, is further congesting the roads, and destroying them
as they have not been built to withstand the weight of the juggernauts that ply
this route.
Thirdly the low charges
and incentives have permitted car manufactures to plant their vehicles at the
port, and use feeder ships to send them to different destinations in Asia and
the Middle East. However what the SLPA earns from allowing them thousands of
acres of tarmac to park these bonded vehicles is peanuts and could be used more
productively. Any idiot will plant his cars when he is not charged for it!
There are
insufficient competent drivers to move these vehicles creating more chaos and
delays for the birthed ships, and could be turned around quicker if there were
more efficient drivers to move the cars as there are in other countries. I wonder
if the Chairman of the SLPA realizes that there is congestion only because it is
due to lower and subsidized rates at loss making prices and not anything else.
It must be remembered
that in the grand development plan of Sri Lanka, the UNP has a port development
in Hambantota at a better location and not at the head of the rock that needs blasting,
and more importantly a deep water port out to sea, and not by taking land and carving
out a port from it. It must be further remembered that expansion of the Port when
it is in the water is easier as one is not restricted in space, and can be performed
more practically.
No one is denying the
strategic location of the Port. However taking loans from China at exorbitant rates
of interest and getting them to build this port was not the answer. It could have been built at a fraction of the
money already wasted on a BOT basis, where there will be little need for Govt. financing
were it auctioned internationally to the highest bidder. They would then build the
most economically practical design. Remember this is with NO COST to GOSL.
So when I see such asinine
comments made by supposedly responsible officials to justify their sycophantic existence
it makes by blood curdle, as it is simply the citizens of Sri Lanka who have been
taken for a ride. It is not the Doctor who has the additional debt burden, it is
every citizen of Sri Lanka who is that much poorer because of the choices made by
people who rule over them.
I do not need to go
into the Indian Sugar refinery project that has got the go ahead in the FTZ adjoining
the port as there will be no future for the existing refineries if this large refinery
requires the raw material from locally grown sugar cane. So the estimated jobs in
this industry will be miniscule as this refinery will be run with hardly any labor
unlike the 5 proposed and already working ones of Pelawatte, Sevenagala, Himburana,
Kantale and Gal Oya.
The building of the
port was by Chinese labor, and no one has been employed locally from it, another
blunder! The Chinese just killed and ate anything they could lay their hands on
denigrating the wildlife of the area for ever. Ask the locals they supplied the
game meat, although it was illegal so to do. The Govt. turned a blind eye to their
indiscretions, when a local would be have been jailed for a simple kill of even
a porcupine or thalagoya (land monitor).
I recommend the Island
to their own research and find out the reasons for the congestion, like I pointed
to, and find out the details of the ships what cargo they brought, why they used
Hambantota and if SL is really making any money from this port of call before justifying
precious MONEY, OR HIGH INTEREST LOANS to build the proverbial casket of GOLD ON
THE WHITE ELEPHANT.
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