NEW DELHI: With a friendlier government now at the helm in Colombo, India has revived its plan to develop a port in Sri Lanka, hoping to catch up with the Chinese.
So far, India had been biding its time on putting pressure on Colombo to complete the strategically-located Kankesanthurai (KKS) port in the Jaffna peninsula.
With last month’s parliamentary elections reinforcing that the result of the January presidential polls was not a fluke, India brought up the stalled port project during Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India.
It is learnt that India raised the issue of rehabilitation of KKS harbour during the delegation-level meeting led by the two prime ministers. Wickremesinghe sounded positive and said that Sri Lanka “will collaborate” with India for the development of the key northern harbor, according to sources.
This is a key commitment to kick-starting pending projects with a more responsive Colombo.
India had signed the agreement for rehabilitation of Kankesanthurai Harbour in 2011, which was supposed to have been completed in six stages within two-and-a-half years. It would involve building a new port as the existing one was unusable after being attacked by LTTE during the last few years of the civil war.
India had completed the first four phases by 2013, with the removal of six sunken vessels, at a grant of $19.5 million. The first three phases were a preliminary hydrographic survey, dredging and geotechnical investigation and preparation of detailed project report by RITES.
Based on the detailed project report, India would have extended a line of credit to Sri Lanka to complete the work for rehabilitating breakwater, building an additional pier and installing port infrastructure facilities.
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