Colombo Port City Project – Back to Basics 

Dr. Kingsley de Alwis-May 12, 2015, 7:18 pm

The article by Dr. U. Pethiyagoda in The Island of April 30 under the above title drew my attention to two fundamental questions about the project: (a) do we really need this? (b) Could the monies be invested more usefully?

I fully agree with his alternative suggestion to invest the money in developing market-oriented smallholder agriculture in urban and peri-urban areas in the Western Province. There are many such successful projects in areas ranging from California to Gaza to – yes, believe it or not – China. However, I would like to raise other basic issues that make it absolutely foolish to go ahead with the Colombo Port City Project (CPCP). Foremost among these are:

(a) The water-shortage that would be created for the greater Colombo area

Colombo and its suburbs are already suffering from periodic water shortages resulting in water cuts during periods of drought. Uncontrolled urban growth has resulted in severe water shortages in many cities, among them Beijing, China. According to the Beijing Water Authority, the annual water consumption in the city was around 3.6 billion cubic metres in 2013. This works out to a per capita annual water availability of 120 cubic metres, much less than the UN absolute water scarcity threshold and a level that is less than some countries in the arid areas of the Middle East.

(b) Solid waste and Sewerage Problems

Colombo is already struggling to deal with its solid waste disposal problem and is saddled with a century old sewerage system that is bursting at its seams. Another addition to this by a sudden expansion of the urban area (presumably with lots of high-rise buildings) would probably ensure the collapse of the whole system, leaving Colombo drowning in its own waste.

(c) The drain on our electricity resources

As similar situation would arise in respect of the drain on our electricity resources Have the feasibility studies (if any) done on this project looked at the impact of the CPCP on our electricity supply and on how this would affect the projected demands of other sectors such as industry, services and the rural electrification programmes? This should of course be done without projections based on developing nuclear energy or exploitation of the natural gas reserves said to be present in the Mannar Bay, which sources would come on stream long after the critical shortages caused by the CPCP development have occurred.

(d) Increased Sea Erosion and depletion of the fishery resources North of

Colombo

The coastal area between Colombo and Maha Oya shows a net drift of sand northwards due to the strong littoral forces and inadequate amount of sediment coming in from the south. This has caused coastal erosion along the coast in this area and that effect could be aggravated with further reduction of the sediment load moving from the south due to obstruction caused by the CPCP. A case in point is the erosion caused in the Beruwela Bay and the coastline north of Maggona due to construction of the fisheries harbour at Beruwela. Furthermore, the fishery resource north of Colombo is also likely to be adversely affected due to the reduced inflow of nutrients from the rivers and the pollution from activities and effluents of the CPCP.

(e) Loss of Sovereignty

Ceding 108 hectares of the proposed new land area to China is a most unwise and possibly illegal step. Not only could this compromise Sri Lanka’s rights to its

Exclusive Economic Zone, but it will also mean that we expose ourselves to the consequences that may arise from use of this land for hostile acts against a friendly neighbour. Furthermore, the Chinese have agreed to finance the post filling construction only on their part of the land while Sri Lanka’s part is to be developed at Sri Lanka’s expense.

(f) Loss of Aesthetic Coastline

If the published plans of the CPCP are what we could expect at the end of the project, the aesthetic appearance of the coastline will be ruined. Why spend so much money to construct this monstrosity?

(g) Moral Pollution

Last, but not least, Sri Lanka will be exposed to the moral pollution and depravity that would accompany the casino and gambling activities that are said to be part of this plan. This is not the image that the Buddhists of this country (and equally the Christians and Moslems) would like to convey to the rest of the world. We certainly don’t want to end up like Macao. According to the China Daily, just last January, the nephew of Macao’s "Casino King", billionaire Stanley Ho and five other were arrested as suspects for running a prostitution smuggling ring.