Sri Lanka to spend 132 mln USD on port development projects

COLOMBO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva has said the government will spend around 132 million U.S. dollars on port development projects.

These investments would be made through revenue generated from port operations, the minister said on Saturday night.

Speaking at an event in Colombo, the minister said the government has allocated over 100 million dollars for the Eastern Container Terminal and 32 million dollars for the Jaya Container Terminal.

Both terminals are fully owned subsidiaries of the state-owned Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

He added that apart from the above investments, they expect to develop the Trincomalee harbor for bulk cargo operations and the Galle harbor for tourism industry with a yacht service and facilitate the anchoring of large ships.

Sri Lanka expects to become a logistics and transport hub in the Indian Ocean.