Hambantota Port agreement purely a commercial transaction - Minister

Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the agreement with the Chinese firm on the Hambantota Port makes it clear that the facility cannot be used for military purposes.

In an interview with the Daily News, the Minister noted that intelligence and strategic possibilities of the port’s location were not part of negotiations and added that it was purely a commercial transaction. The New York Times recently published an article titled “How China got Sri Lanka to cough up a port”, in which they stated the transfer gave China control of territory just a few hundred miles off the shores of a rival, India and a strategic foothold along a critical commercial and military waterway.

According to a New York Times analysis of construction projects, China has helped finance at least 35 ports around the world in the past decade and Hambantota port is one of them.

In response to the allegations, Minister Samarasinghe said the port has nothing to do, other than commercial transactions and it has been clearly mentioned in the agreement.

“China Merchant Port (CMP) over all has a lease of 69.9 percent and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority has 30.1 percent. So we are also an equity holder. Two Sri Lankan companies registered under the Companies Act will run the operations. And the Chinese will only be handling the commercial operations,” the Minister said.

Minister Samarasinghe further explained that CMP will be taking care of bunkering services, facilitating export and import activities, transshipment of vehicles while industries will be set up inside the port and they will be facilitating them as well and many more.

“But, every operation that CMP is involved will be confined to port and marine related activities,” he said.

The Minister said that even the Sri Lankan Navy would continue to remain there.

“There is an area that the Navy has been operating near the port and they will carry out their respective mandates. Further, all security related decisions will be taken by the Sri Lankan government,” he said. Minister Samarasinghe said for a naval ship to arrive at the port, it has to come through the government and it would be the same even its a Chinese naval ship.

“Whichever government wants to send a naval ship will have to get permission from the government of Sri Lanka and the Chinese will not come into any of that,” he said.