WEB DESK
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister MUM Ali Sabry has said that the Phase one of Colombo Port will operationalise by 2024. Speaking exclusively to our special correspondent, Mr. Sabry said that 60-70% of the transshipments at the Colombo port are linked with India. He added that in the case of Western Container Terminal of the port, the Indian Government had no role as far as deciding of investor was concerned and it was a matter internal to Sri Lanka. He elaborated the detailed timelines in the development of the WCT where Sri Lanka, India and Japan were involved in a trilateral arrangement initially.
The minister said that in early 2021, Sri Lanka had decided to go ahead with the development on its own, after which Adani group had expressed interest in development of ports in Sri Lanka. He said that Sri Lankan government then had negotiated the necessary agreement with Adani group.
Mr Sabry laid stress on initiatives including development of Trinclomalee as an energy hub. He expressed hope that several initiatives and opportunities that are in the pipelines in the sectors of IT, Industry and other sectors can be materialised in the future.