Sri Lanka revives interface handle India, Japan
14 January, 2021
Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday announced the revival of an Indian and Japanese expense project to develop a deep-ocean terminal in Colombo harbour, up coming to a controversial $500-million Chinese-go container jetty.
A tripartite package by Sri Lanka's previous government had been on carry amid trade union level of resistance, but Rajapaksa said the East Container Terminal (ECT) would proceed.
Acceptance came after reviewing "regional geo-political concerns," Rajapaksa's business office said, a reference to India's suspicion of China's role at the same port.
The terminal will be developed with 51 percent ownership by Sri Lanka's government and the rest of the 49 percent as an investment by India's Adani Group and other stakeholders including Japan, officials said.
The state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) entered right into a memorandum of cooperation in May 2019 with Sri Lanka, India and Japan to build up the ECT before Rajapaksa found power in November 2019.
The deep-sea jetty is situated next to the Colombo International Container Terminal which is 85 percent owned by China and was commissioned in 2013.
The SLPA owns the rest of the 15 percent.
India lodged protests when Chinese submarines made unannounced visits to the Chinese-managed terminal in 2014.
Since then, Sri Lanka has refused permission for further submarine telephone calls.
Practically 70 percent of transshipment containers handled simply by Colombo was Indian export-import cargo.
In December 2017, Sri Lanka, unable to repay a huge Chinese loan, paid another deep sea port in the southern of the island to a Beijing company in a deal that raised concerns in the home and abroad.
The $1.12 billion package, first announced in July 2016, allowed a good Chinese state firm to dominate the Hambantota port, which straddles the world's busiest east-west shipping route, on a 99-year lease.
India and america are both concerned a good Chinese foothold at Hambantota, 240 kilometers south of Colombo, could give it a army naval advantage found in the Indian Ocean.
Sri Lanka has insisted its ports will not be used for just about any military purposes.
Source: japantoday.com
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