Hambantota port gets $610m investment

25 August 2011 02:51 am Views - 5750

Sri Lanka’s ports authority said yesterday that it has approved $610 million investment in large warehousing projects for sugar, fertiliser, and bottle manufacturing at its new port in Hambantota, due to start commercial operations this year.

The $1.4 billion port on the southern coast of the Indian Ocean island nation is among the single largest investment opportunities opened to outside investors since the end of a 25-year civil war in 2009. The ports authority has secured around $1 billion in investment into secondary port facilities, including warehousing, as Hambantota gears up to attract 2,500 ships annually when it opens.

The new port is located about 2km from one of the world’s biggest east-west shipping lanes.

“We have approved $610 million from three firms to start warehousing in a sugar refinery, fertiliser bagging and bottle manufacturing,” Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrama told Reuters.

India’s Shree Renuka Sugars, Singapore’s Peak Energy and Sri Lanka’s conglomerate Hayleys will together invest $610 million in sugar refining, bottle manufacturing, and fertiliser bag production respectively, Wickrama said. (Source: Reuters)