Honourable Minister of Ports, Shipping & Southern Development Sagala Ratnayaka has made a field visit to inspect the construction of new Administrative Building (Maritime Facilitation Center) of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) on 8 July 2019. SLPA will be setting up its new 17-storey head office building at a cost of Rs. 5 billion scheduled for completion in two years.
The Minister said that the development of the Port of Colombo has been delayed in recent past which has caused a major economic loss to the country. He said that the speedy completion of proposed constructions would also increase the efficiency of the Port and address road traffic congestion.
Meanwhile, construction of a new port access road from Ingurukade at a cost of Rs. 26 billion scheduled for completion in three years. It is significant that all these projects are to be carried out by the Road Development Authority with the assistance of Sri Lankan engineers and local construction companies.
Minister Sagala Ratnayaka further said that these projects, Maritime Facilitation Center building and port access road will be a great benefit to the port of Colombo as well as the country.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has secured financial assistance for these projects.
SLPA Chairman – Mr. Kavan Ratnayaka, Chairman Road Development Authority- Mr. Nihal Sooriarachchi, Managing Director – Capt. Athula Hewavitharana, Additional Managing Director – Mr.Upali D. Zoysa, Directors and a number of higher officials of the management of SLPA & RDA also joined the inspection visit in Canal Yard.