By Lahiru Pothmulla
Though the Colombo Port has earned an income of Rs.26 billion this year, a significant portion of it will go to settle a loan obtained from the Chinese government for the construction of the Hambantota Port, Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga yesterday said.

Addressing the media in Colombo Port, after ceremonially marking the handling of the five millionth container at the port, the minister said the means to improve the welfare of port employees had also been hindered because of the issue. “Even with inadequate and old equipment, the efforts of our employees had borne fruit. 

That’s why we have been able to handle more containers than last year.  Though we have earned Rs.26 billion this year, we have to utilize them at harbours where there are losses and Hambantota Port is the main issue. We will have to keep paying for years to settle the loan obtained for that harbour,” 
he said.   

However, he said the Hambantota Port cannot be closed and the government was looking for investment opportunities there to pay  the loan. 

Commenting on the global rank of the Colombo Port, he said it was at 26 at present and pledged to take measures to position it among the best 20 ports in the world by the end of next year. Ranatunga said they would focus more on the development of the port, specially the East and  West jetties.

“We are hoping to handle more containers at the Colombo Port and expect an increase in the number of containers being handled by 10 percent next year. If we were able to develop the East terminal, we expect we can increase the number of containers by 25 percent,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) Chairman Dammika Ranatunga said the Colombo Port is paying Rs.8 billion annually to settle the loan taken for Hambantota Harbour and the amount would gradually increase up to Rs.19 billion by the year 2020.