Hambantota port project boon for unemployed youth
Raja Waidyasekera, Tissamaharama special corr.
HAMBANTOTA: Fifty thousand direct and indirect jobs will be
generated once the proposed Hambantota seaport is implemented, a naval
engineer told the Daily News. The construction of the first phase will
commence in June this year.
The China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, Sino Hydro Corporation Ltd
and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will involve themselves in the
construction work, Sri Lanka Ports Authority sources said.
The construction work will be implemented in four stages. The entire
project is scheduled to be completed in 15 years. The construction work
will commence with an investment of US dollars 450.
The Chinese firms will obtain the services of the local engineers.
A 600 metre jetty will be set up for the clearance of cargo
containers.
In addition, a 300 metre jetty will be set up to provide services to
the ships that arrive on the international naval route.
At the final stages a ship repair unit, a container repair unit and
an oil refinery unit will be set up.
A large number of families in Hambantota who will lose their
dwellings will be resettled in suitable places after having compensated
them, a spokesman for the Hambantota project office told the Daily News. |