Stories of rock bed blocking newly built harbour denied

Thursday, 21 April 2011 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Colombo: Deputy Minister of Ports and Highways Rohitha Abeygunawardana rejected the Opposition accusations that a large rock bed blocks the movements of ships in the newly built Hambantota port.

The Deputy Minister challenged the opposition United National Party (UNP) MP Harin Fernando who made this charge for a debate in this regard with the Chairman of the Ports Authority and the engineers.

He expressed pity regarding the opposition MP’s ignorance and said that no harbour in the world is 30 metres deep as MP Harin Fernando says.

Instead most of the big harbours are 18 or 19 metres deep whilst the Colombo harbour is 16 metres deep, the Deputy Minister pointed out.

The deputy minister said that no company would have invested a massive US$ 360 million on the Hambantota port if what the opposition said was correct.

(www.colombopage.com)