A free trade zone is a must for the Mattala Airport and the Hambantota Port cannot function without oil bunkering, Co-Cabinet Spokesperson, Minister Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday as he defended the government’s decision over the Chinese backed projects in Hambantota.
The government has announced that on January 7, it would sign an agreement with the China Harbour Engineering Company on a public-private partnership to develop the Hambantota Port along with the establishment of a 15,000 acre free trade zone.
“It was wrong to have made Mattala. The airport should have gone to Weerawila but because of protests from Chamal Rajapaksa, it was taken to Mattala,”Minister Senaratne said addressing the weekly Cabinet briefing at the Government Information Department yesterday.
“Hambantota however needs a Port and the first feasibility report done in 2002-2004 found the area suitable. But, it would only work to attract ships for bunkering purposes. When Mahinda Rajapaksa was told of this, he ignored it. He built the Port for political gain not for any benefit. Today we are spending Rs.600 million a year on the Port and earn Rs 10 million. Where do we get the rest from? It’s the tax payer that pays for all this,”he added. Hitting out at the former President and the JVP over criticism that the government was giving away land to the Chinese, Minister Senaratne insisted that the land was only been given on a 99 year lease and that they needed the Chinese to build the Free Trade Zone to make Mattala airport work.
“During Mahinda Rajapaksa’s time too I said we would build a 15,000 acre free trade zone and that the airport and port would complement the industries that function within. Then he had no problem, it is only now that he has found one,” Senaratne stressed.
“When Norochcholai was first suggested by the UNP government at the time, there were many protests, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga promised to shut it down but she too brought it back when she was President. In the end Mahinda Rajapaksa built it despite continuous protests. Now it has helped us. No project in Sri Lanka has been started without a protest,”he added.
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