NO, NO AND NO, TO PRIVATIZATION

The President was addressing the gathering after commissioning the newly constructed Oluvil commercial port and fisheries harbour and ice manufacturing plant yesterday. The harbour project was constructed at a cost of Rs.7,000 million. The President said the opposition levels baseless allegations that the government is going to privatize many government entities, including the People’s Bank, Bank of Ceylon and Savings Bank. As a people friendly and country friendly government, state entities will never be privatized. “This is not the era to sell government entities, but, to regain those privatized ones” the President added. “The opposition can do nothing but level baseless allegations at the government. The President urged the people not to fall prey to those baseless allegations, which were levelled for petty political gains. “We all are children of one mother. Therefore, we should all come forward to take the country forward forgetting minor issues” the President noted. The President further added that the newly constructed Oluvil harbour is the Eastern link of the development chain of the government. This can be considered as the largest development project to be undertaken in the Eastern Province. Due to this mega construction, the province will actively participate in the national development process. The President added that the country has been place on a rapid development track. After liberating the area from the clutches of the terrorism, the entire country is being developed. A few years ago, government officials were transferred to Digamadulla as a way of punishment. But, that situation has entirely changed now. Every one is witness to the development dividends. “According to this development initiative, thousands of development activities were carried out at a cost of Rs 60,000 million. Under the government initiatives to set up a modern port system in the country aiming to become the naval hub of Asia, many ports are being constructed throughout the coastal belt,” the President said. “The Government has allocated approximately Rs 7,000 million for the Oluvil Port project with the financial assistance of the government of Denmark. The construction of the Oluvil commercial harbour and the fishing harbour commenced on June 20, 2008 under the Neganahira Navodaya development program of the government. The completion of the harbour is expected to boost economic infrastructure activities especially in the Eastern Province. The Oluvil Port consists of two sections, a commercial harbour and small craft harbour (fishery harbour). The commercial port has a 330 metre quay with a water depth of 8 metres, while the fishing port comprises 200 metres of quay with a water depth of three metres. The commercial harbour comes with all other harbour related institutions and buildings such as warehouses, police station, generator and transformer building, communication centres, fuel storages, while the fisheries harbour consists of ice plants, cold room facilities, storage facilities for fishing equipment and many other facilities. A light house for the Oluvil harbour has already been constructed for the benefit of both commercial and fishing crafts. The commercial harbour would have enough depth to handle ships up to 5,000 metric tonnes and the fisheries harbour could hold more than 250 fishing boats simultaneously. The construction of the commercial and fishing port, which consists of two phases has been completed by a Danish construction company. During the first phase, two breakwaters were constructed and during the second phase, dredging was undertaken to enable the port to handle vessels of up to 16,000 tons. Moreover, the port will form the south-eastern link in the developing chain of coastal harbours in the country and will provide more convenient and cost effective access to and from the south-eastern region for goods and cargo originating on the west coast.