Blogging Hambantota Development

This blog follows the development of the Hambantota port

Creating Ghost Towns? - Hambanthota Development

Just looking at the image above gives you an insight on the idiocy of Sri Lankan Town planning. Just take a look at that weird looking building in the middle. Isn’t that the Jumeira Hotel in Dubai!!!...........this was published in the daily news 24th March 2009(http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/03/24/main_Business.asp). Suddenly out of the blues Hambantota is the hippest town in Sri Lanka!

It is agreeable that Sri Lanka does need to develop a city apart from Colombo that can take the tourist/commercial pressures, but finding the suitable city is some what problematic giving the situation that Sri Lanka is at present. To develop a city there should be a pre determined purpose. It can be based on commercial issues, it can be based on industrial issues, and it can be based on tourism. We have seen marvelous examples internationally, take for instance bibao, spain. Frank Ghery’s Gugenheim museam transformed bilbao into a booming tourist hot spot.

Frank Ghery’s Gugenheim Museam, Bilbao

To develop a city you either need a focal point/a catalyst such as the gugenheim museum or you should introduce infrastructure, like what the GOSL trying to do at the moment. So in a certain perspective GOSL is on the right track.




The construction of the Hambantota Port, one of the biggest development projects to be undertaken by the Government. A Chinese consortium comprising China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd and Sino Hydro Corporation Ltd would be in charge of constructing of the Hambantota harbor. Under the first phase of the project, an industrial port with a 1,000m jetty and an oil refinery estimated to cost US$1 billion will be constructed at Hambantota. The proposed port will stimulate development of harbour-related industries such as ship repairs, ship building, bunkering, break bulk, power generation and a free trade zone. I was under the impression that this was developed into a marina where tourist cruise ships would make a intermediate stop point at, and there after tourist attractions would be developed within the city, such as safaris, traditional villages, the bundala national wild life park, the sand dunes of bundala, ( Did you know that Bundala was the village of Andare?)


There is also another theory on why china is backing such a large project. China is increasingly depending on oil import from middle east countries. The sea route for oil imports is of great importance to China and China wants to have a control over this sea route. Sri Lanka, situated in the Indian Ocean is closer to the Marlaca Strait and has a strategic location for the protection of the oil route. Hambantota is located at the southern end of Sri Lanka.



A report from U.S. Joint Forces Command confirms that the commercial-shipping container port at Hambantota being built by Chinese contractors is part of China’s so-called “string of pearls” strategy to gain political influence and be able to project power in the Indian Ocean region. Read more from Lanka Business Online.


However, China has clarified that its backing for the Sri Lankan Hambantota port and bunker terminal project is for commercial purposes only and not as part of a strategic plan to project its power in the Indian Ocean region. Read more from PortWorld.
Are we just pawns in a larger chess board far beyond the comprehension of our 3rd world mindsets?

Proposed Hambanthota Air port

The funniest project by far how ever in the Hambanthota development project is the Air port project.
The Asia tribune reports on 8th March 2008 as follows,
The construction of the second Sri Lankan international airport at the picturesque ancient township of Hambantota is making rapid progress. It is a gigantic undertaking being built at a record pace. The ceremonial laying of the foundation for the airport was made in October 2006, and the spectacular project is now visible to everybody as it rises from bare gound. Weerawilla in Hambantota, the constituency of Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse, will soon be the proud inheritors of a modern airport with all its facilities. The international airport is constructed in an area of 150 hectares with four km runways. It will start operating by 2009 creating a new chapter in the history of the country.

The funny part however is the fact that even though models of the project have been displayed in various forums including Deyata Kirula 2007 ( Very different from the one in the picture above) The design hasn’t been even awarded yet. And some where last year A Rajapakse brother was bold enough to actually make the call to change the location of the proposed site after briefly visiting the site. He literarily made the call through his mobile phone and instructed to change the location. This was even shown on Swarnavahini. (Though I might quote swarnavahini a lot in my posts, please note that I am not paid by the company not work for it.) Who will actually fly via Hamba Air port? If the marina was there it would have been logical to assume that the sudda’s ( a affectionate pet name Sri Lankan’s give White skinned tourists) would travel to Colombo, Sigiri, Pollonnaruwa via Mihin air from Hamba.

Refere here for more blabber on the airport

Apart from these gigantic projects Hambantota is to receive an Administrative Complex and an International Convention Centre with Assistance from Korea. The Government of Korea has agreed to provide a loan equivalent of US$ 20 million (Rs 2,000 mn) for the construction of an Administrative Complex in Hambantota. The total cost of the project is US$ 25 mn (Rs. 2,500 mn) of which US$ 5 mn (Rs. 500 mn) will be provided by the Government of Sri Lanka.

Who will use all this? It is logical to assume that once the infrastructure is in place that people will move in, similar to the situation that we see at the moment along the new constructed (Awesome!) road running from Hamba to Katharagama.


I hope that this new Hambanthota development will not become a ghost town, alien to its inhabitants (similar to what happen in corbusiers chandigargh) and alien to our culture: a mix of charities, looking for their own gains.

Creating Ghost Towns? - Hambanthota Development

Just looking at the image above gives you an insight on the idiocy of Sri Lankan Town planning. Just take a look at that weird looking building in the middle. Isn’t that the Jumeira Hotel in Dubai!!!...........this was published in the daily news 24th March 2009(http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/03/24/main_Business.asp). Suddenly out of the blues Hambantota is the hippest town in Sri Lanka!

It is agreeable that Sri Lanka does need to develop a city apart from Colombo that can take the tourist/commercial pressures, but finding the suitable city is some what problematic giving the situation that Sri Lanka is at present. To develop a city there should be a pre determined purpose. It can be based on commercial issues, it can be based on industrial issues, and it can be based on tourism. We have seen marvelous examples internationally, take for instance bibao, spain. Frank Ghery’s Gugenheim museam transformed bilbao into a booming tourist hot spot.

Frank Ghery’s Gugenheim Museam, Bilbao

To develop a city you either need a focal point/a catalyst such as the gugenheim museum or you should introduce infrastructure, like what the GOSL trying to do at the moment. So in a certain perspective GOSL is on the right track.




The construction of the Hambantota Port, one of the biggest development projects to be undertaken by the Government. A Chinese consortium comprising China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd and Sino Hydro Corporation Ltd would be in charge of constructing of the Hambantota harbor. Under the first phase of the project, an industrial port with a 1,000m jetty and an oil refinery estimated to cost US$1 billion will be constructed at Hambantota. The proposed port will stimulate development of harbour-related industries such as ship repairs, ship building, bunkering, break bulk, power generation and a free trade zone. I was under the impression that this was developed into a marina where tourist cruise ships would make a intermediate stop point at, and there after tourist attractions would be developed within the city, such as safaris, traditional villages, the bundala national wild life park, the sand dunes of bundala, ( Did you know that Bundala was the village of Andare?)


There is also another theory on why china is backing such a large project. China is increasingly depending on oil import from middle east countries. The sea route for oil imports is of great importance to China and China wants to have a control over this sea route. Sri Lanka, situated in the Indian Ocean is closer to the Marlaca Strait and has a strategic location for the protection of the oil route. Hambantota is located at the southern end of Sri Lanka.



A report from U.S. Joint Forces Command confirms that the commercial-shipping container port at Hambantota being built by Chinese contractors is part of China’s so-called “string of pearls” strategy to gain political influence and be able to project power in the Indian Ocean region. Read more from Lanka Business Online.


However, China has clarified that its backing for the Sri Lankan Hambantota port and bunker terminal project is for commercial purposes only and not as part of a strategic plan to project its power in the Indian Ocean region. Read more from PortWorld.
Are we just pawns in a larger chess board far beyond the comprehension of our 3rd world mindsets?

Proposed Hambanthota Air port

The funniest project by far how ever in the Hambanthota development project is the Air port project.
The Asia tribune reports on 8th March 2008 as follows,
The construction of the second Sri Lankan international airport at the picturesque ancient township of Hambantota is making rapid progress. It is a gigantic undertaking being built at a record pace. The ceremonial laying of the foundation for the airport was made in October 2006, and the spectacular project is now visible to everybody as it rises from bare gound. Weerawilla in Hambantota, the constituency of Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse, will soon be the proud inheritors of a modern airport with all its facilities. The international airport is constructed in an area of 150 hectares with four km runways. It will start operating by 2009 creating a new chapter in the history of the country.

The funny part however is the fact that even though models of the project have been displayed in various forums including Deyata Kirula 2007 ( Very different from the one in the picture above) The design hasn’t been even awarded yet. And some where last year A Rajapakse brother was bold enough to actually make the call to change the location of the proposed site after briefly visiting the site. He literarily made the call through his mobile phone and instructed to change the location. This was even shown on Swarnavahini. (Though I might quote swarnavahini a lot in my posts, please note that I am not paid by the company not work for it.) Who will actually fly via Hamba Air port? If the marina was there it would have been logical to assume that the sudda’s ( a affectionate pet name Sri Lankan’s give White skinned tourists) would travel to Colombo, Sigiri, Pollonnaruwa via Mihin air from Hamba.

Refere here for more blabber on the airport

Apart from these gigantic projects Hambantota is to receive an Administrative Complex and an International Convention Centre with Assistance from Korea. The Government of Korea has agreed to provide a loan equivalent of US$ 20 million (Rs 2,000 mn) for the construction of an Administrative Complex in Hambantota. The total cost of the project is US$ 25 mn (Rs. 2,500 mn) of which US$ 5 mn (Rs. 500 mn) will be provided by the Government of Sri Lanka.

Who will use all this? It is logical to assume that once the infrastructure is in place that people will move in, similar to the situation that we see at the moment along the new constructed (Awesome!) road running from Hamba to Katharagama.


I hope that this new Hambanthota development will not become a ghost town, alien to its inhabitants (similar to what happen in corbusiers chandigargh) and alien to our culture: a mix of charities, looking for their own gains.

China builds the Hambantota Harbour

On the southern coast of Sri Lanka, ten miles from one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, a vast construction site is engulfing the once sleepy fishing town of Hambantota.

This poor community of 21,000 people is about as far as one can get on the island from the fighting between the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels on the northeastern coast. The sudden spurt of construction helps, however, to explain why the army is poised to defeat the Tigers and why Western governments are so powerless to negotiate a ceasefire to help civilians trapped on the front line.

This is where China is building a $1 billion port that it plans to use as a refuelling and docking station for its navy, as it patrols the Indian Ocean and protects China’s supplies of Saudi oil. Ever since Sri Lanka agreed to the plan, in March 2007, China has given it all the aid, arms and diplomatic support it needs to defeat the Tigers, without worrying about the West.

Even India, Sri Lanka’s long-time ally and the traditionally dominant power in South Asia, has found itself sidelined in the past two years — to its obvious irritation. “China is fishing in troubled waters,” Palaniappan Chidambaram, India’s Home Minister, warned last week.

The Chinese say that Hambantota is a purely commercial venture, but many US and Indian military planners regard it as part of a “string of pearls” strategy under which China is also building or upgrading ports at Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Burma.

The strategy was outlined in a paper by Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher J. Pehrson, of the Pentagon’s Air Staff, in 2006, and again in a report by the US Joint Forces Command in November. “For China, Hambantota is a commercial venture, but it’s also an asset for future use in a very strategic location,” Major-General (Retd) Dipankar Banerjee of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in Delhi said.

The British Navy used the Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee as its main regional base until 1957 and still shares a naval base with the US on the nearby island of Diego Garcia. China has no immediate plans for a fully fledged naval base but wants a similar foothold in the Indian Ocean to protect its oil supplies from piracy or blockade by a foreign power, analysts say.

Beijing sent three ships on an unprecedented anti-piracy mission to the Gulf of Aden in December, and in January a Chinese defence White Paper said that the navy was “developing capabilities of conducting co-operation in distant waters . . .”

China has cultivated ties with Sri Lanka for decades and became its biggest arms supplier in the 1990s, when India and Western governments refused to sell weapons to Colombo for use in the civil war. Beijing appears to have increased arms sales significantly to Sri Lanka since 2007, when the US suspended military aid over human rights issues.

Many of the arms have been bought through Lanka Logistics & Technologies, co-headed by Gotabhaya Rajapksa, the Defence Secretary, who is also the President’s brother.

In April 2007 Sri Lanka signed a classified $37.6 million (£25 million) deal to buy Chinese ammunition and ordnance for its army and navy, according to Jane’s Defence Weekly.

China gave Sri Lanka — apparently free of charge — six F7 jet fighters last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, after a daring raid by the Tigers’ air wing destroyed ten military aircraft in 2007. One of the Chinese fighters shot down one of the Tigers’ aircraft a year later.

“China’s arms sales have been the decisive factor in ending the military stalemate,” Brahma Chellaney, of the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, said. “There seems to have been a deal linked to Hambantota.”

Since 2007 China has encouraged Pakistan to sell weapons to Sri Lanka and to train Sri Lankan pilots to fly the Chinese fighters, according to Indian security sources.

China has also provided crucial diplomatic support in the UN Security Council, blocking efforts to put Sri Lanka on the agenda. It has also boosted financial aid to Sri Lanka, even as Western countries have reduced their contributions.

China’s aid to Sri Lanka jumped from a few million dollars in 2005 to almost $1 billion last year, replacing Japan as the biggest foreign donor. By comparison, the United States gave $7.4 million last year, and Britain just £1.25 million.

“That’s why Sri Lanka has been so dismissive of international criticism,” said B. Raman of the Chennai Centre for China Studies. “It knows it can rely on support from China.”

Colombo South breakwater nearing completion

The construction of the breakwater and the construction of the Hambantota port have shown a significant progress during the last months.

The placing of the core material and protection layers of first 600 m length of the Colombo South break water have been completed up to date.

It is planned to complete 750 m length of the breakwater before the coming South West Monsoon expecting in late May 2009.

The contractor has planned to continue the construction of the breakwater during the SW monsoon depend the availability of calm weather windows.

The rock transportation from load Out Point ( Small Harbour) located at Wadduwa Kalutara has been commenced and few loads of barges have already transported to Colombo.

The dredging of main channel and the reclamation for breakwater and the contractor's working area is in progress satisfactorily and upto date more than 7 million Cubic metres have been completed.

The steel pipe fabrication for the diversion of SPBM oil pipe line is being done in Korea and excavation and rock blasting necessary to bury the pipe line is in progress. The new pipe line will be operational in March 2010. The construction work of the Hambantota port too is going on apace, a Project official said.

The importance of the construction of the port within 10 nautical miles of the world's busiest shipping lane had been identified by several shipping magnates and oceanologists since it is located directly at the intersection of major international sea trading routes. The natural depth along the coastline is suited for the development of a deep-water-port.

The most important thing in this port is the approaching to the port does not necessitate a long dredged channel.

The strategically situated maritime gateway to India is also one advantage to develop the trade between the two countries, the official said.