Environment State Minister Janaka Wakkumbura told Parliament yesterday that an extensive investigation will be conducted to ascertain whether the permission has been obtained from the relevant authorities in Sri Lanka to transport hazardous cargo on board by the container ship that collided with the Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in America while on its way to Sri Lanka.
The State Minister said that no notification had been given to the Central Environment Authority regarding the arrival of this ship.
The State Minister said this while replying to the questions raised by the MP Prof.Charitha Herath and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa regarding this ship called Dali which crashed while it was coming to Sri Lanka with containers of harmful toxic substances.
He said a special investigation is already being conducted regarding this ship. The Central Environment Authority had not been informed about the arrival of this ship. We have already informed the Sri Lanka Customs and the Colombo Port to conduct investigations immediately in this regard.In fact, it was because of the collision of this ship that we were able to know about the goods that were there. Therefore, a formal investigation will be conducted and Parliament will be informed about this.
MP Prof. Chariha Herath said it has been revealed that 764 of the 4,644 containers on this ship contained dangerous toxic substances. This kind of problem happened before and we got into a big crisis. This country has been working according to the Basel Convention since 1992. Accordingly, if a ship carrying such hazardous waste passes through one of our ports, our country should be informed about it. But the Central Environment Authority was not informed. This ship is scheduled to arrive in our country between the April 15 and 17. The Sri Lankan agent of this company is a multinational company. We would like to suggest that there is a possibility of this ship arriving in Sri Lanka.It can harm the country. Therefore, it is suggested that the responsible authorities should take a decision in this regard before the ship arrives in the country.
Irangika Range