Sri Lanka port city project would create infrastructural and sewage disposal issues: Deputy Minister

[Market R]

Feb 26, 2015 (LBO) - Sri Lanka’s Chinese funded port city project would have infrastructural and sewage disposal issues once implemented, Deputy Minister of Highways, Higher Education and Investment Promotion said at an event held in Colombo.

“Much has been said in the recent weeks about the port city development in Colombo and I am not going to make any particular comment on that as the whole project is being reviewd,” Eran Wickramaratne, Deputy Minister of Highways, Higher Education and Investment Promotion said in Colombo yesterday.

“But I do not know if you have realized, apart from the immediate environmental issues with the port city, when it is completed and in full flow there will be 300,000 people living on those 500 acres of land which is half the population of this city (Colombo),”


“Can you imagine this issues in terms of water, transport and also in terms of sewarage?” he asked.

“I had a short discussion with the mayor of the Colombo on it, and the one thing I told him very clearly is that there is no way in which the sewerage of that inquired land could be connect with the system presently of that we are using which is nearly 200 years old.”

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament last week that the 1.4 billion dollar Chinese-funded 'Port City' on reclaimed land next to Colombo harbour has not been stopped yet and is still being probed.

A final decision on the controversial project and the agreement signed with Chinese firms will be taken once a committee of experts and a Cabinet sub-committee chaired by him submit their reports and parliament will be informed, he was quoted saying.

[NuinthTop contributor]

Thx Mak R,

This shouldn't be politicalised. If some one looking this project with political angle it will kill the city, country.

This project will be great. But it should be without any environmental issues, with proper water, transport & specially sewage system.

Did they start this without plan for those system ? (This is not political)

[කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වාTop contributor]

I think, this man should stay within his own purview than trying to comment on things for mere publicity.
Imagine, he is the Minister of Higher Education.

[chinwiTop contributor]

පිස්සු.

මේ වගේ දැවැන්ත ව්‍යාපෘතියක් ඩිසයින් කරනකොට ජල-අපවහන හා අපද්‍රව්‍ය කලමනකරනය  වැදගත්ම අදියරක් වශයෙන් සලකා බලනවා.
ඒ සඳහා සැලසුම් හා විසඳුම් නැතුව අනුමත වෙන්නෙත් නෑ.

“I had a short discussion with the mayor of the Colombo on it, and the one thing I told him very clearly is that there is no way in which the sewerage of that inquired land could be connect with the system presently of that we are using which is nearly 200 years old.”  

මාර සොයා ගැනීමක් !
මේක එයා කියන්න ඕන නෑ. ඕනම කෙනෙක් දැනගන්න ඕන සාමාන්‍ය දෙයක්.

කොළඹ දැනට මල අපද්‍රව්‍ය පිට කරන නල තියෙන්නෙ වැල්ලවත්තේ මුහුද එල්ලයේ.  මේ නව නගරයේ මල අපද්‍රව්‍ය  වැල්ලවත්තට  ගෙන ඒම හෝ   ඒ පරන  දිරා ගිය නල වලට​  සම්බන්ධ කරන්න හෝ   හැකියාවක් නෑ.   මෙය port city ඩිසයින් කළ සමාගම් වලටත් කරන අපහාසයක්.

මේ අයගේ මේ කරුණු ගැන ඇති අනවබෝධයේ තරම රටට පෙන්වීම පමණක්  වැදගත් දෙයක් ලෙස සිදුවෙනව​​.

[Illusion]

If these politicians dont know about construction, better to keep their mouth shut.

[yellow knifeTop contributor]

I thought opposition parties in a democratic countries believe that one day they will govern the country... At least the main opposition should think so.. So the main opposition should groom shadow ministers... Immediately power is changed they can REMOVE AND REPLACE... unfortunately UNP has never thought of a shadow cabinet it seems.. Now only they study..sorry talk without studying...

I am not happy with UPFA government though I voted for the Head of UPFA... Now the weak UPFA and UNP are like blind men lead by blind men...

This is why we must argue on national issues on forum like these.. At lest they will understand ( UNP or UPFA) that there are better discussions taking place without them..

[balapasTop contributor]

Eran actually does not know much about this subject. Thats what he said couple of weeks back. However he has not done his home work properly. I have not followed this "Port city" discussions so dont know actually whether something thats worthwhile for the country. However there was a second phase where they wanted some sort of extension in 2020 to Mount which should not go ahead.

I remember people saying same thing about the WTC when Premadasa was trying to get this to SL. People said half of Colombo water and electricity will be consumed by WTC and a useless project. I remember an Engineer talking sarcastically about this in the early 90s. This is SL so people like to let down other people and their work more than any other country even if its good.

[BackstageTop contributor]

If there is an EIA it should be available for public scrutiny, if there isn't a proper independent EIA , then one should be done before any further discussion of environmental details. Same to the economic feasibility.

Pre election times are good to demand standards, after elections, the weight of public opinion diminishes. This is the time to demand transparency.

[yellow knifeTop contributor]

Environmentalists of the country has a duty to create a CRITICAL MAP of Sri Lanka.. So any development concept can be screened at the inspection of it. Now some one will develop a proposal and then only after passing it environmentalists raise their voice and say : this land is reserved for elephants...What I may say will not be applicable to port city ...But having such a map of identified critical areas of protection is important ... Sri Lanka should protect its bio diversity..

[කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වාTop contributor]

Like the end of the LTTE war, the former leader was never prepared but once it was done by others, he capitalized on it and became a hero overnight.
Same way, RW and the gang were surprised that they got this opportunity on a platter overnight but do not know what to do with this chance.
Boys will remain boys always.    

unfortunately UNP has never thought of a shadow cabinet it seems.. Now only they study..sorry talk without studying.

[UkboyTop contributor]

if someone still thinks RW gonna stop the port city..

http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lanka-allows-chinese-port-city-breakwater-construction/1266280256