Prasantha Jayamanna, The Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority, recently announced plans to go for an Expression of Interest (EoI) to develop Trincomalee Port as an industrial port. The island nation is in fact inviting bids from firms across the globe to come and develop the port as an industrial hub. He also added that the investors could utilise close to 2,400 hectares of land that surrounds the port of Trincomalee.
Trincomalee being located in a less developed and sparsely populated area, has in the past hampered its own development. Nevertheless, now plans are underway to develop Trincomalee as a commercial seaport. Trincomalee has the fifth-largest natural harbour in the world, which is overlooked by terraced highlands, its entrance is guarded by two headlands, and there is a carriage road along its northern and eastern edges. The expectation is to set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) or an energy hub in the area. The plan is also to increase commercial cargo traffic to this port and develop this area as a new industrial hub. The Trincomalee region already has international investors plugged into its facilities. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) signed a deal with Sri Lanka to share ownership of the oil tank farm in the port which was built by the British during the Second World War and controlled by them until 1964. This was something India was looking to do since 1987 and it finally happened in January 2022.
