Alarm Bells from Arjuna: Strike at Hambantota Port has eroded confidence of international maritime sector

Some shipping lines informed they may not use port in future

Protesters are former Nil Balakaya members

 The recent incidents at the Hambantota Port have eroded the confidence of the international maritime sector and some shipping lines have informed they may not use the port in the future, Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said yesterday.

Speaking to the media in Colombo, he warned that major shipping lines may abandon the Hambantota Port if worker unrest continues.

“We are redirecting some of the ships coming to the Hambantota Port to Colombo. We are losing the rest. The damage by the protesters is severe,” the minister said.

“We are yet to witness and assess the damage to the 13 storeyed building which is under their control. It has been reported that they have flooded the premises, shut down the CCTV system and electricity,” he said.

“We are not sure whether they have damaged the computer system as well. The crane machines were damaged. Acts of vandalism of this nature cannot be accepted,” Ranatunga said.

“We have let the law enforcing authorities to take things under their wings,” the minister said. “It is with great regret that I say that these protesters have become puppets of a political propaganda. It is not a secret that 400 of these protesters were former Nil Balakaya errand boys of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his son Namal,” he said.

“None of these protesters received permanent jobs during the former regime. They do not possess a single written document regarding their jobs. They were recruited by a company called the Magampura Port Management Company. Their contract was over a year ago. They are in their probationary period, which basically means that all of them have secured permanent jobs. They are misled by a gang belonging to the former regime to carry on the protest they initially started,” Ranatunga said.

“These politicians do not like these protesters to get a permanent job in fear of losing their loyalty,” the minister said.

“There are some leading figures in Nil-Balakaya involved in this protest. We already have footage of these figures. If they cannot understand that they are being manipulated, we have nothing to do about it other than let the law enforcement authorities do their job,” Minister Ranatunga said.

He said he was adamant to secure the jobs of these workers, when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama started discussions with the Chinese company.

“How can I take responsibility of these workers. If the Chinese company asks us are these the kind of people you are going to recruit to the company, we would be speechless. These protesters were not in anyway at a risk of losing their jobs due to the agreement signed between the government and the Chinese company,” Minister Ranatunga said.

He also said that he was also against privatisation.

“However, there are times we have to take certain steps for the sake of our people and the country. What happens in the Hambantota port agreement is not privatisation. We are trying to minimise the debt which was caused by the former regime. What would happen if the Chinese company gives up on the Hambantota port. Who is going to pay the debts? Namal Rajapaksa says it cost Rs. 400 million where as the actual expenditure is Rs. 1,300 million. Where has the rest of the money gone? Mahinda Rajapaksa will not pay the debts on behalf of the government. We have come into this joint agreement to dodge the amount of debts that may crash upon our economy. We are already spending the profit we get from the Colombo port to pay the debts of Hambantota port. We cannot allow this to continue,” Minister Ranatunga said.

Responding to a question regarding the agreement on Hambantota port, Minister Ranatunga said that the initial agreement was signed on December 8.

“We are still trying to win more benefits to our country before the last stage of signing the agreement. We have to complete the signing by January 8. The former agreement was to lease the Hambantota Port for 199 years, which we have now decreased to 99. We are trying our level best to decrease it to 45-50 years. We have won 50 percent of the demands that we made to the Chinese company. I shall be satisfied if we could win more benefits over to our side.” Minister Ranatunga said.

“We shall resume work in the Hambantota Port by next week. The protesters receive food and other facilities which shows that this is organised by some political figures. I again ask them to give up the protest, go home and come to work fresh the next day. We have thousands of applicants waiting to take up duties. We have requested from the Defence Ministry to provide us security to resume work at the Hambantota Port. If the protesters want to, they can carry on their protests in a non-violent manner,” Minister Ranatunga said.