Category: News

The Ministry of Education says that schools in the Colombo Zone and other major cities will remain closed next week, from June 27 to July 01.

However, the ministry said that rural schools can function as normal on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during next week.

Accordingly, issuing a notice, the ministry informed that the educational activities in the schools during the week from 27th of June to 01st of July 2022 will be conducted according to the following manner:

1. The schools where students and teachers are not having transport difficulties must be conducted normally just as the rural schools were held from 20.06.2022 to 24.06.2022 and if there are teachers facing the transport difficulties, the principal will arrange a flexible timetable for them without considering from their personal leave.

2. The urban schools which were not held last week must be conducted 03 days a week viz. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 07.30 am to 01.30 pm. The discretion of deciding the number of days conducting primary classes in these schools lies with the principal.

For the absent days of the students the learning activities will be continued through inline teaching / assignments / home based activities.

3. Actions will be taken not to consider the absent days of the teachers due to transport difficulties as personal leave.

4. The Ministry of Education extends its gratitude to the teachers and principals who contributed to conduct the schools even amidst of transport difficulties from 20.06.2022 to 24.06.2022.

The Hambantota Port is located in southern Sri Lanka close to the east-west sea route. Its construction began in 2008 which was funded through Chinese loans of about US$ 1.3 billion. The construction was carried out by a joint venture of China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) and the Sino Hydro Corporation.

Phase I of the project was completed in 2010 and the port commenced commercial operations in November 2011. Phase II of the project began in 2012 and was completed in 2015. The total expenditure on building the port and equipping it was about US$ 1.5 billion.

By 2016, the Hambantota Port under the ownership of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) had incurred losses of about SLR 46.7 billion. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka had to repay nearly US$ 1.7 billion to China as principal and interest for the loan it had taken to build this Port (till about 2036). The debt repayment for this loan at that time was close to about US$ 100 million annually.

By this time, it was also clear that this expensive project was not commercially viable as had been shown in initial feasibility studies till a ‘suitable’ study found this to be commercially ‘feasible’.

Using this pretext of recurring losses, an elaborate scheme was designed to enable China to secure ownership of this port for 99 years in the garb of an investment into a Public Private Partnership to manage and operate the Port.

In December 2016, the Sri Lankan government announced that ongoing losses made it necessary to restructure the port in collaboration with China Merchants Port Holdings Company (CMPort) to make it commercially viable.

A number of documents were concluded between the Sri Lankan government and CMPort between 2016 and 2017. As a result of these documents and a Concession Agreement signed in July 2017, two newly created entities called the Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) and Hambantota International Port Services Co. Ltd (HIPS) took control of the Hambantota Port and its operation and management for a period of 99 years.

CMPort agreed to ‘invest’ US$ 1.12 billion for the acquisition of 85% stake in HIPG and a 52% stake in HIPS. The remaining stakes in HIPG and HIPS were given to SLPA. Thus, the overall percentage of shares held in the Hambantota Port by CMPort is about 70%. HIPG would develop and manage the port along with adjoining land, while HIPS would operate the Port services.

Interestingly, there was no change in Sri Lanka’s debt obligations for this project following the acquisition of stakes by Chinese entities in the Hambantota Port. Payments for these stakes were sent to the Treasury which possibly used it for other purposes perhaps.

Therefore, Sri Lanka continues to repay the debt despite restructuring the Port itself and handing it over to China. When taking over the Port, both HIPG and HIPS did not inherit any liability in this respect and GoSL continued to be liable for the debt existing prior to the transfer.

This was reconfirmed during a recent hearing (22 June 2022) under the aegis Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) of the Parliament of Sri Lanka where it was revealed that the loans taken for the construction of the Hambantota Port had not been repaid with the ‘investment’ by the Chinese company in 2017. Therefore, Sri Lanka continues to bear the debt for the failed port despite restructuring it and handing it over to a Chinese entity for 99 years.

It was further revealed that these liabilities have not been correctly reflected in either SLPA or Government accounts. Chairman of the COPE recommended that necessary steps be taken to include the loan liabilities in a suitable manner in the publications/reports within a month.

The Hambantota Port also enjoys an exclusivity period which says that there shall not be any port/terminal development directly in competition with the Port within 100 km from the Port (with some exemptions).

Despite having a number of berths for various purposes with different depths and being operational for about a decade, the Port witnesses visits by only about 400 vessels annually. In comparison, the Port of Colombo handles about 4,000 vessels annually.

While the Port’s website claims various kinds of capacities in terms of bulk cargo, container movement and Ro-Ro, the actual ability to handle such volumes is doubtful as the supporting infrastructure and equipment such as suitable cranes for such volumes are not visible.

According to informed sources, major shipping lines are not keen on Hambantota Port yet for movement of containerized cargo. Therefore, containers are not handled in any significant way at Hambantota Port currently.

The current focus at the Hambantota Port at the moment is trans-shipment of vehicles (Ro-Ro) which according to shipping experts is not a very profitable operation. The other area is bulk cargo such as cement clinkers, bunkering fuel and LPG for some units located nearby.

The ongoing economic challenges have further affected the Port’s throughput. Work related to port development has also been reportedly halted currently due to the ongoing fuel/forex crisis.

Some limited bunkering operations are carried out at the Port. The Port has entered into a strategic partnership with Sinopec for bunkering which provides fuel to local bunker operators in Sri Lanka who then sell it to visiting ships. It is learnt that local bunkering operators prefer to buy oil from Singapore as it is cheaper compared to HIPG/Sinopec’s bunker fuel.

Given the constraints in expansion in areas such as container cargo, Ro-Ro, and bunkering, there have been efforts to speed up the development of an industrial zone adjoining the Port as an effort to make the Port attractive or feasible. Several MoUs and agreements have been signed mostly with Chinese or local entities for tyre manufacture, vehicle assembly, appliances, cement, cargo storage etc. Work on some units has commenced while others remain suspended.

It appears that Hambantota was initially a part of a string of strategic locations that China wanted to develop without any consideration for feasibility. The money spent on the Hambantota Port is in no way commensurate with the massive investment/loan that has gone into the project.

The scheduled expansion of capacity at the Colombo port with the addition of two deep draught terminals will further reduce processing times, bring down costs and make the Colombo Port even more attractive. Further, the Colombo Port is already a very well-developed trans-shipment hub and located only about 200 kilometres away from Hambantota. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that another Port would be able to flourish as a major container trans-shipment hub in such close proximity.

Separately, it is becoming evident that the actual volume of Chinese debt may be well above the current publicly available figure of US$ 3.3 billion which is about 10% of the Government’s debt. Certain experts estimate that this may be beyond US$ 6 billion or almost 20% of Sri Lanka’s external debt with lending rates that are higher than most concessional financing.

It is understood that the current official figures only account for project loans to the government and have not included Chinese loans to Sri Lankan state-owned enterprises and loans of other types.

China has also taken a tough approach on debt restructuring where it would need to agree with other creditors to help Sri Lanka achieve consensus with all its creditors. China has been reluctant to commit to debt restructuring and has offered to refinance its debt through another loan. It has also not permitted Sri Lanka to use a currency swap of 10 billion yuan executed last year by imposing tough conditions.

After Sri Lanka decided to approach the IMF, there were some initial statements from China which hinted that going to the IMF may impact Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring discussions with China. This indicates that China may continue to create challenges for Sri Lanka in its engagement with the IMF as well as during debt restructuring.

Source:Hindustantimes.com

Sri Lanka has virtually run out of petrol and diesel after several expected shipments were delayed indefinitely, the energy minister said Saturday (Jun 25) while apologising to motorists for the worsening fuel crisis.

Kanchana Wijesekera said oil cargoes that were due last week did not turn up while those scheduled to arrive next week will also not reach Sri Lanka due to “banking” reasons.

Sri Lanka is facing a serious shortage of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, including food, fuel and medicines and is appealing for international handouts.

Wijesekera said the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was unable to say when fresh oil supplies will be on the island. The CPC had also shut its only refinery over a shortage of crude oil, he added.

The refinery started operation earlier this month using 90,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil bought through Dubai-based Coral Energy on two-month credit terms.

Wijesekera said he regretted that deliveries of “petrol, diesel and crude oil shipments due earlier this week and next week” would not be fulfilled “on time for banking and logistical reasons”.

Scarce supplies left in the country will be distributed through a handful of pumping stations, he said.

Public transport and power generation will be given priority, Wijesekera added, urging motorists not to queue up for fuel.

“I apologise for the delay and inconvenience,” the minister said as hundreds of thousands of motorists spent long hours waiting for petrol and diesel across the impoverished nation.

Last week, the government shut non-essential state institutions along with schools for two weeks to reduce commuting because of the energy crisis.

Several hospitals across the country reported a sharp drop in the attendance of medical staff due to the fuel shortage.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe warned parliament on Wednesday that the South Asian nation of 22 million people will continue to face hardships for a few more months and urged people to use fuel sparingly.

“Our economy has faced a complete collapse,” Wickremesinghe said.

“We are now facing a far more serious situation beyond the mere shortages of fuel, gas, electricity and food.”

Unable to repay its US$51 billion foreign debt, the government declared it was defaulting in April and is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a possible bailout

The Cabinet of Ministers is to decide tomorrow (27) on gazetting the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, after looking at the final draft of the legislation that has received the approval of the Attorney General (AG), The Sunday Morning learns.

Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told The Sunday Morning that the Government’s proposed 22nd Amendment had been approved by the Attorney General after the Legal Draftsman had passed it on to the Attorney General’s Department.

“The finalised draft will be presented to Cabinet on Monday and a decision will be made then on when to gazette the proposed Amendment,” he said, adding that the draft Amendment would be gazetted next week itself.

At the last Cabinet meeting, the Justice Minister presented a Cabinet note informing that the Government’s draft 21st Amendment would be identified in future as the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, since the draft Amendment presented by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) had already been gazetted as the 21st Amendment.

At the same meeting, Minister Prasanna Ranatunga had questioned whether the proposals presented by other MPs, especially ruling party MPs, to the proposed Amendment had been included in the draft that was presented to the Cabinet for approval.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had noted that the relevant provisos (the President’s proposals) had been included, and that therefore there were no more issues in that regard.

After receiving the assurances from the Prime Minister and Justice Minister, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft Amendment with agreement that the legislation would be gazetted after the Cabinet saw the draft finalised by the Attorney General.