The Island/ANN - General (Retd) Daya Ratnayake, chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) yesterday refuted recent news reports in foreign and local media which claimed that Indian conglomerate Adani Group was all set to develop Sri Lanka’s thwarted East Container Terminal (ECT) in the Port of Colombo.

“It’s all speculation without any concrete basis” Gen. Ratnayake said in response to a question by The Island Financilal Review whether the news story being circulated that the present government is going to toe the former government’s line in relation to developing the ECT, with Indian and Japanese collaboration is true. “Sri Lanka Ports Authority recently started operations in certain parts of the East Container Terminal which has been already constructed, using existing gantry cranes, after receiving the government’s approval to do so. We needed to do it to enhance our container operations. As a hub of the Indian Ocean, the capacity development of the Port of Colombo is of great importance,” SLPA chairman said.

When asked whether the deal signed by the former government with India and Japan to develop the ECT still remains valid, he said, “After the change of government, negotiations began to be re-looked at in a more comprehensive manner and the government of Sri Lanka is in discussions with the governments of Japan and India on how to operationalise the terminal. These negotiations are still taking place on state-level,” he said.

Asked whether India’s Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. along with a local partner have received consent to sign a deal with SLPA which gives SLPA the right to hold a majority stake in the project, he said, “Nothing is concrete in this regard yet. The three governments will work out details based on the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC)”.

Sri Lanka, India and Japan signed the MoC for the development of the East Container Terminal in the Port of Colombo on May 28, 2019. According to the MoC, SLPA will retain 51% stake of the venture while the rest is to be shared between India and Japan.

In August 2020, with the parliamentary election right around the corner, workers at the Port of Colombo stopped work for two days in protest against the privatisation of the Eastern Container Terminal, due to which revenue of the Port was reportedly dented by Rs. 10 billion.

The strike was called off after trade unions had discussions with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.