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ECT not given away: PM

07 Jan 2021

Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal (ECT) still belongs to Sri Lanka and has not been given to a foreign company, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said. “Our Government has not decided to hand over to a foreign company the management or ownership, in full or in part, of the East Container Terminal,” he told Parliament yesterday (6). The Prime Minister made this statement in response to a question raised by National People’s Power (NPP) MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake regarding the Government’s stance on the ownership and management of the ECT. “I served as the President from 2005 to 2015, and during my tenure, the Colombo South Harbor Development Project was implemented to develop three container terminals that had the capacity to handle 7.2 million containers. Under that project, it was decided to continue operations of one terminal as a public-private venture for 35 years, and this decision was taken adhering to proper procurement procedures. The Government is taking immediate steps to expedite the operations of the two remaining terminals, namely the East Container Terminal and the West Container Terminal,”  the Premier added. He also stated that the former Government had entered into agreements in 2017 and 2019 with foreign companies. In response, Dissanayake said the former Government had entered into an agreement with the aim of forming a company jointly managed by two companies based in India and Japan and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), and that this company was to obtain a loan from Japan for a 1% interest rate to develop the ECT. “However, that agreement seems to have changed now,” he said, charging that the current plan is to give 51% of shares to an Indian company and to keep the remaining 49% of shares under the SLPA. Sri Lanka, Japan, and India signed an agreement in May 2019 to jointly develop the ECT. The joint initiative was estimated to cost between $ 500 million and $ 700 million. As per the agreement, the SLPA was to retain 100% ownership of the ECT, while the Terminal Operations Company (TOC), conducting its operations, was to be jointly owned, with Sri Lanka holding a 51% stake in the project and the joint venture partners retaining 49%.


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