India grants US$ 40m :

KKS: regional port for N-E cargo

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

The government will develop the Kankesanthurai port as a regional port, geared for Indian cargo for the North and Eastern Provinces.

The project will also be funded from the Indian government under its assistance for Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka, billed to be complete in two years. 'The rationale behind the development of the KKS port will be to have it as a regional port which will be used for the Jaffna and Trincomalee- bound cargo from Indian port cities such as Tuticorin and Madras, which will be essentially cement, fertilizer' and food items, such as, onions, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Dr Priyath Bandu Wickrema told Daily News yesterday.

The port, will be a regional port, and would not either be for transhipment cargo or a location for the sixth generation mega carriers, but for small ships which are not even container carriers, but for break-bulk cargo and bags.

The KKS port, when fully developed, will have a draft of only eight feet, he said.

Cabinet approval for the project has already been given and a Memorandum of Understanding will also be signed between the Governments of India and Sri Lanka. The signatory to the MoU on the Sri Lankan side will be Ports Ministry Secretary Sujatha Cooray. The Indian Government signatory is not known yet. There had also been a high powered visiting Indian team of officials including those of the Indian Shipping Corporation who had been in Colombo and Kankesanthurai on an exploratory mission.

There will be a US$ 40 million grant from the Indian Government, meant for the preliminary feasibility study, which has already commenced now which will be followed by the dredging and the development of the breakwater and the construction of the quay wall.

There will be a loan also from the Indian Government, the amount and the terms of which have not been determined yet, but will made be after the preliminary feasibility has been completed.

The development of the KKS port will also merge additional synergies with the possibility of transporting agri-produce from Jaffna by sea to Colombo, Galle, Hambantota, Trincomalee, slashing transit times, hitherto done in lorries. However, containerized cargo forming the bulk of imports and exports from and to India, will have to be channelled through Colombo.

Sri Lanka Navy Media spokesman Commander Kosala Warnakulasuriya told the Daily News that the Navy will use the KKS port, when rebuilt, to replenish its vessels sailing in the area with fuel, water and provisions while transporting its sailors and cargo as well and will continue to use it as the base in the northern peninsula.

When the port is fully developed, it will be used by the merchant shipping vessels as well to transport cargo to and from the north such as building materials to KKS and vegetables from the North as well, he said.

The Navy was using the port even during the time of the conflict and that was one of the few locations in the northern peninsula to be free of terrorist attack. The KKS port which was originally built to transport cement from the KKS factory, will useful with the government deciding to rebuild the cement factory as well.