A number of projects in the Hambantota International Port’s Industrial Park are nearing completion, marking the success of 2022 as the ‘Year of Construction.’ In spite of a certain slowdown during COVID-19, this international industrial park has secured over 40 projects from over 08+ countries and has emerged stronger as ever, adhering to their ‘HIP Speed’ concept to renew construction and meet deadlines.
A plug-and-play, park-in-park facility by Xinji Shenzhen Group will also be completed by the end of the year. The USD$ 15 million facility will provide ‘one stop’ services to light industries. The 2-phase project, being built on 44,194 sq. meters of land, will be ready with its 1st phase of 1,500 sq meters warehouse by end December 2022 and is expected to begin operations by mid 2023.
The first phase of construction on two of the projects will be completed by the end of 2022. The first phase of the 3 million USD$ mega capacity warehouse by INSEE will see completion by February 2023 and move on to 2nd and 3rd phases immediately after. INSEE expects the 17,300 sq. meters in-port warehousing complex to become wholly operational in the second quarter of next year. The warehouse will improve INSEE’s cargo discharging efficiency, resulting in better vessel turnaround times and significant savings in forex.
A covered bonded warehousing facility measuring 50,000 square feet is also being built by Hambantota Port Logistics Services (HLPL). Upon completion, the facility will have a storage capacity of 45,000 metric tons and will mainly be used for local distribution and transshipment of fertiliser. The 5,000 sq m warehouse will not only attract new cargo volumes to HIP, but will also contribute to the port’s goal of becoming a regional hub for bulk cargo.
Another USD$ 300 million tire manufacturing plant by Ceylon Tire Manufacturing and a luxury yacht manufacturing plant by Sea Horse Yachts are also slated for completion in the next few years to come. In addition to the projects at ground level works, HIP projects in operations also includes USD$ 65 million Laugfs Gas terminal, USD$ 5 million Sinopec Fuel Oil Lanka operating HIP’s Tank Farm to carry out the business of ship refueling and oil trade in South Asia and Intertek Lanka for operating its field-testing laboratory.