Magampura takes its place in history
Text of the speech by President
Mahinda Rajapaksa at the ceremonial berthing of the first vessel at
Magampura Port
On a day like today, election results confirmed my victory. Today is
the last day of my first term. I now say goodbye to this term and will
begin my new term of office tomorrow. I recall the pledge I gave my
nation five years ago, when after casting my vote at the polling station
at Medamulana, I promised the nation that I would bring an honoured
peace to this country and also to build a new Sri Lanka. I am glad to
state that I was able to fulfil both these promises within five years,
even before the end of my term.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Today, we have left our mark, not only on the Sri Lankan map but also
the world map. Today the Port of Magampura saw the berthing of its first
ship. In the maritime maps of the world this will be marked as an
important port.
Colossal foundation
When we introduced Mahinda Chintana to the nation in 2005, we Sri
Lankans were deprived of many things in this country. Even though roads
connected Point Pedro and Point Dendro, Sri Lankans were not free to
traverse in those roads. The country was divided. Many sections and
facilities of the Colombo Port were being sold. Nations assets were sold
for meagre amounts. Other assets were also to be so disposed of. Our
staple food was rice. Yet, our farmers’ inheritance was pesticide.
With all humility I state my pride at being able to change all this
within my first term of office in the last five years and bring the
country back on the right track. From the cooperative shop to the
airline, we gave back to Sri Lankans. We did not own our national
carrier SriLankan Airlines. Now we are the owners of SriLankan and Mihin
Air. We gave Sri Lankans, the rightful owners, everything from the
fertilizer bag to the Shell Gas Company. Not only that, we regained the
1500 sq km land, two-thirds of the coastal belt to the Sri Lankan nation
that had lost possession and control of it.
We have now laid the colossal foundation for a new Sri Lanka. A good
start means almost accomplishing half of the task. Therefore, during the
last five years, we have given an excellent start to the Sri Lankan
nation.
In addition to this Magampura Port, we are constructing five more
ports in Sri Lanka. Construction work of the Colombo-South Port is
nearing completion. The Oluvil Port will also be completed soon and so
will the KKS Port. The Galle Port will be developed and Trincomalee Port
will be modernized. This will change our economy as well as the map of
Sri Lanka by adding thousands of acres of new land to our Motherland.
The land extent of Southern Colombo and Hambantota will be enlarged.
From the time when our land was sold, we are now moving to a time when
we are adding to it.
Five ports are not too much to Sri Lanka. Unlike today, our country
was home to many international ports thousands of years ago. Sri Lanka’s
ports were marked in Ptolemy’s first world map. Thambapanni Port where
King Vijaya disembarked was located below Mannar on the North East
coast. Guests for his nuptial too, disembarked on Mahathiththa Port on
the North East coast. It is to the nearby Port of Godawaya that King
Gajabahu landed with thousands of followers. We also know of our other
ancient ports such as Dambakolapatuna and Lanka Patuna. In fact, our
forefathers, too came to our country by sailing high seas.
Wonder of Asia
Sri Lanka too, like China has a grand and proud history. When the
Great Wall of China was being built in your nation, our King Pandukabaya
was building the fortress around the Anuradhapura city. That was the
time when the same King established a Grama Rajya. I must state, there
are only a handful of nations in the world that have an unbroken and
continuous history of thousands of years. Our nation was at a strategic
location on the Silk Route which joined your country with Europe. Thus,
we are very old friends in the naval and trade sectors. In future too,
this will be the same.
When Asia is progressing rapidly led by China and India, Sri Lanka
also seeks to be a part of this emergence. We are today, committed to
building Sri Lanka to be the Wonder of Asia by making it a five-fold hub
in naval, aviation, commercial, energy and knowledge. We possess a great
strength and potential to achieve this. We have shown this by completing
this stage of the Magampura Port even before its target date. This was
possible due to the total commitment of the people of China and Sri
Lanka. The people of Sri Lanka offer their warmest gratitude to the
people and government of China.
Development history
This is not only the building of a new port but also an opportunity
to develop our villages. This is a giant step taken to reverse Sri
Lanka’s development history which has so far ignored the development of
villages assuming it to be too difficult a task. It is a new economic
world that is being built because of this port. Areas such as Magampura,
Thanamalvila, Embilipitiya, Moneragala, Matara, Ratnapura and many
others will develop with this port. That development brings to an end
the neglect that rural villages had to face so far. From this date on,
the underdevelopment of these villages will be a thing of the past. They
will be raised to international levels of development.
This country does not need another port for many centuries ahead. We
develop this country for the benefit of the future generations. It is
their responsibility to reap the benefits of this port. It is wrong if
the youth only expect jobs through this port. We have completed such a
massive task to rebuild our nation.
Business community
In the by-gone days, our country possessed a strong business
community. Some of them improved their conditions by interactions with
the port; through the commercial and business relations with the port.
Later, they became a great force for the independence struggle of our
country when it commenced. They had great love and patriotism for the
country as they were the people of this soil who came from the villages.
They provided a great service for the country.
Even today, we would like to see the emergence of such business
people and enterprises of our own that will add great strength to our
economy.
We are a nation which held commercial relations even with the Roman
Empire Caesar during the times of King Bhathikabaya Tissa. Still,
foreign currency and coins used those days, are still found at the
Godawaya Port which was seen from this point. Even today, we can build
such powerful businesses. We therefore, invite the international
business community to establish industrial enterprises in special
economic zones in this region.
Future generation
Hundreds of vessels sail in that sea passing this point each day. We
will bring them here. Our youth, our future generation must be ready to
reap maximum benefit from that. A patriotic business community which has
the ability to transact with the world must emerge. They must become a
group which brings foreign revenue to the country and meet the challenge
of unemployment. We will continuously provide the freedom and
sponsorship necessary in this task. We must have such a powerful
community if we are to be an independent nation.
We look forward to the support extended to this port today to
continue in the future. We must act to transform the monsoon winds that
blow today into the trade winds of enterprise and profit. This will give
a fillip to development of the country. I bestow this port to future
generations to bring peace to the country. It is my wish that this will
be a fully functional port with the completion of its next phases of
development. While expressing my gratitude to all who have been
committed to this great task and I wish you all a prosperous future. |