Lanka plans new port project, calls for bid

Colombo: The Sri Lanka Ports Authority has called for bids to build a new port in southern Galle, next to the existing harbour, an official said.

The project aims to expand the current port's capacity to meet future demand with a new breakwater, harbour basin with a deeper draft and multi-purpose terminal to handle bigger vessels.

The project is funded by a 14.5 billion yen Official Development Assistance loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
Bids, which are open to only Japanese firms, will be opened on July 3, a senior Sri Lanka Ports Authority official said.

The work involves building the breakwater and multipurpose terminal, dredging the approach channel and turning basin for ships, and installing navigation aids and other equipment.

The JBIC loan is repayable in 30 years, inclusive of a grace period of 10 years and carries an interest rate of 0.3 percent a year.

The expansion of Galle harbour is expected to reduce waiting time of vessels and improve its berth occupancy ratio.

SLPA officials said the aim is to develop Galle to handle conventional cargo which are now handled in Colombo port as well as cargo for the local industries in the southern region. The main commodity handled by the existing Galle harbour is cement.

In the project's second phase, a large leisure component will be introduced with a marina for pleasure craft and a passenger terminal.
Galle is already a port of call for yachts.
Sri Lanka Ports Authority is also expected to call for fresh bids to develop a container terminal in Colombo by July.

Separately, the government has offered a leading Chinese company the contract to build a fuel tank farm and bunkering facility at the new harbour at Hambantota in the southern part of the country.

'The unsolicited project proposal sent by the China Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation for building the bunkering facility and tank farm at the Hambantota harbour has been approved by the project committee and the cabinet-appointed negotiations committee,' the state-run Daily News reported.

According to the agreement, the total value of the project would be $76.5 million and it would be completed by 2010.

A set of fuel tanks, bunkering facilities, aviation fuel storage facilities and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage facilities will be built as part of the project at Hambantota, about 230 km south of Colombo.

The facilities would be constructed in such a way that they would be able to operate independently with separate loading arms and pipelines connecting the oil and gas jetty.

There is a proposal to take a loan for the project from the Exim Bank in China, the newspaper said.
The Hambantota Port Development Project consists of four stages and is expected to be completed within 15 years. Under the first phase of the project, an industrial port with a 1,000 metre jetty and an oil refinery estimated to cost $1 billion would be constructed.

Although the Hambantota port was initially planned as a service and industrial port, it is expected to be developed as a trans-shipment port at a later stage to handle 20 million containers per year.