Abdul Nazeer

• Five-member committee appointed to look into development issues of JCT and ECT
• Procurement, non-implementation of Cabinet decisions, cost implications to be probed
• Agreements entered into with Japan and India to develop ECT to be analysed 
• Ad hoc, unsolicited decisions made by SLPA and Ports Ministry to be evaluated 
• Committee told to hand over report within 45 days

Wading into the issue of the East Container Terminal (ECT), President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday appointed a five-member committee to examine and report on how to develop both the State-run Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) and the new ECT of the Colombo Port.

The committee is headed by Ministry of Ports and Shipping Secretary M.M.P.K. Mayadunne, Ministry of Industrial Export and Investment Promotion Secretary M.P.D.U.K. Mapa Pathirana, Ministry of Roads and Highways Secretary R.W.R. Pemasiri, Ministry of Power and Energy Secretary Wasantha Perera and Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Gen. (Retd) R.M. Daya Ratnayake are the other members of the committee.

The committee, according to the President’s Media Division (PMD), has been tasked with examining several issues including the procurement procedure and related concerns with regard to the development of JCT, assessment of the compliance to the Cabinet decision, and the observation of the Minister of Finance connected with the Cabinet Decision dated 26 July 2017, on enhancing the deep berth capacity and modernisation of the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and also examine as to why JCT was not developed prior to ordering of required machinery.

The Committee will also evaluate the cost implication of the unsolicited procurement actions and shipment of them prior to the building of the terminal, as well as agreements entered into by the Government of Sri Lanka with other governments with regard to Colombo Port and in particular ECT.

The Financial implications and cost-benefit analysis of ad-hoc decisions taken by SLPA, the relevant line ministry and the Government with regard to decisions linked to JCT and ECT. 

In addition the committee will also have to identify the officials who were responsible for these decisions and recommend action against them and recommend the way forward to develop the above mentioned two terminals to get the maximum benefits for Sri Lanka for the development in trade, shipping and investments including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). 

The Committee has been requested to consult relevant line ministries, stakeholders and submit their report within 45 days from Friday.

In May 2019 the former Government entered into a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan and India to build the ETC. Under that agreement Japan was to provide a loan of $ 500 million and India was to do the construction. 

The agreement was signed during the tenure of former Ports Minister Sagala Ratnayaka. However, former Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, who held the portfolio before Ratnayaka, and former President Maithripala Sirisena had earlier promised the SLPA trade unions that the ECT will be built and operated by the SLPA. 

The unions contend that if the ETC is given to a foreign company then the SLPA will not have a deep water terminal capable of berthing large ships and will eventually lose out to the other two privately operated terminals. 

Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) is currently operated by a Chinese company and the South Asia Gateway Terminal is run by conglomerate John Keells Holdings. JCT, which is the oldest of the three terminals currently under operation is not deep enough to compete with the other two terminals. 

Shipping experts have long warned that the much delayed ECT was urgently needed to keep the Colombo Port competitive and continue its hub status in South Asia. But efforts to make it operational since 2015 have largely failed to take off. 

According to the SLPA, the MoU signed under the former Government states that the SLPA retains 100% ownership of ETC. The Terminal Operations Company (TOC), which will be responsible for all operations within the terminal, will be jointly owned by Sri Lanka, Japan, and India. Sri Lanka will maintain a 51% stake in the company, while Japan and India will hold minority stakes of 34% and 15% respectively. 

Development of the ECT was to be financed by Japan through a 40-year soft loan of between $ 500 million-$ 800 million. The loan will be at a 0.1% interest rate with a grace period of 10 years. Other experts had also pushed for the ECT to be developed as a public-private partnership ventures. 

Tenders that were called in early 2015 also led to a dead end with all bidders eventually disqualified by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) presided over by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.    

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

• SL tells UNHRC domestically designed and executed reconciliation process will be pursued
• Says committed to achieving reconciliation even as it withdraws from co-sponsorship of Resolution 30/1
• Urges all parties to recognise realities on ground, focus on deliverable measures of reconciliation
• Pledges to continue engagement with Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, HR mechanisms and IC
• Makes voluntary contribution of $ 5,000 to OHCHR in 2020

Sri Lanka yesterday reiterated it remained committed to achieve reconciliation, accountability and human rights within the framework of the Sri Lankan Constitution, through a domestically-designed and executed process in line with the Government’s policy framework even as it withdraws from co-sponsorship of Resolution 30/1.

“We urge all parties once again to recognise the realities on the ground, and appreciate this approach of focusing on deliverable measures of reconciliation – which is backed by a people’s mandate and is in the interest of Sri Lanka and its people – instead of opting to continue with a framework driven externally that has failed to deliver genuine reconciliation for over four-and-a-half years,” Sri Lanka Acting Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Dayani Mendis said.

The Sri Lankan official said that the Government of Sri Lanka would continue its engagement with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN human rights mechanisms, and work in close cooperation with the international community through capacity building and technical assistance in mutually agreed areas, in keeping with domestic priorities and policies.

Sri Lanka’s position was announced during the Interactive dialogue on the annual report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the 44th Session of the Human Rights Council underway in Geneva, Switzerland. 

The remarks came a day after the Core Group on Resolution 30/1 on Sri Lanka (UK, Canada, Germany, North Macedonia and Montenegro), expressed profound disappointment at the Government decision to withdraw from the Resolution and said they remained firmly committed to advancing the resolution’s goals of accountability, reconciliation, and inclusive peace in Sri Lanka.

Mendis also said the Government appreciated the initiatives taken by the Office to provide technical and financial assistance to states upon request, and highlight the need for equitable geographical representation in the Office and announced that in continuation of the country’s commitment to constructive engagement, Sri Lanka would be making a voluntary contribution of $ 5,000 to the Office of the High Commissioner in 2020.

The Sri Lanka Representative also referred to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken by the Government to contain the virus, saying swift preventive measures at the national level, a well-networked, multi-stakeholder contact tracing mechanism, and a robust healthcare system geared towards screening/testing and hospitalised care had helped to ensure zero social transmission of COVID-19 in the country since 1 May.

She said that with only 11 deaths, the last being on 1 June, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Sri Lanka stood at 0.54%, which was significantly lower than the global fatality rate of 4.85%, while the recovery rate in Sri Lanka stood at 83.59% higher than the global recovery rate of 54.77%.

“The approach adopted by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) in containing the pandemic, which has also been commended by the World Health Organisation, has been inclusive, non-discriminatory and holistic, providing foremost importance to safeguarding the health and safety of not only its people but foreign nationals in its territory,” Mendis explained.

She added that steps taken by the Government to curb the spread of the virus did not at any point involve resort to emergency measures that would have required derogations from the exercise of fundamental freedoms, but were strictly limited to minimum temporary restrictions on movement in the interest of public health, in accordance with the due process of law, with the aim of protecting right across the country all sections of society during this pandemic, which too were fully lifted on 28 June.

“These public health measures were accompanied by a series of policies aimed at advancing the economic and social rights of particularly the vulnerable segments in society, such as support for low income families, older persons, the differently-abled, day income earners, farmers and industries, with a view to building their resilience to the effects of the pandemic,” she added.

The Sri Lankan representative noted that as the COVID-19 pandemic moved from one geographical region in the world to another, people were increasingly reminded of the stark inequalities that exist in our global landscape, which were often exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic and said the UN system, including the HRC, had a pivotal role in addressing these inequalities and in ensuring that no one was actually left behind in global efforts to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

“Sri Lanka believes that genuine dialogue and cooperation among the international community is important to achieve this objective and we stand ready to share its experience and good practices with fellow nations and work in solidarity with them towards this end,” she added.