SLPA New Cargo Village in Peliyagoda Targets 6mn TEU's by 2012

07th January 2011, www.dailymirror.lk, By Supun Dias

SLPA Chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrama said that a new Cargo Village will be set up in Peliyagoda to meet the target of 6 million TEU's by 2012. Sri Lanka currently has capacity to handle 4.5 million TEU's.

He said this delivering the annual P. B. Karandwela Memorial Lecture, organized by the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport Sri Lanka.

"Port, Health, Banks and Customs will come under one roof when the project is completed. The land area in approximately 27 acres and other primary goal is to provide our customers an efficient and a smooth service as required", he said.

"In the future we will remove all the warehouses situated within the Port of Colombo to the newly set up Cargo Village. A rail link from the Colombo Port will be constructed and before attracting local and foreign investors the necessary infrastructure will be set up at the village", he added.

He further revealed that SLPA also requested the Indian Government to take steps to draw Indian businessmen to invest in the Cargo Village".

"An e- Commerce and an online payment scheme for customers will also be set up in the village to provide an accurate service and also to draw more investment to the Colombo Port as well as the Cargo Village in Peliyagoda", he noted.

New dockyard in Magampura

SLPA is also in the final stages of preparing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to call for tenders to build a large dockyard in the Magampura port, Dr. Wickrama said.

Presently the country operates its only dockyard in the Colombo Port, the Colombo Dockyard which established its operations in 1974 and is now Sri Lanka's largest engineering facility in the business of ship repair, shipbuilding, heavy engineering and offshore engineering.

Besides being located in a convenient geographical location, it also has the benefits of a deep water harbour which provides and ensures quicker turn around times at affordable rates for larger ships.

Colombo Dockyard operates four graving dry-docks, the largest with a capacity of 125,000 metric tons DeadWeight (DWT) as well as extensive repair berth facilities and is also accredited with the ISO 9000-2000 Quality Certification.

Colombo Dockyard PLC has also shown its interest in investing at the Magampura Port development project, Dr.Wickrama said.