Construction work started today on the Chinese-backed Hambantota port project, with work on a new bunkering terminal to follow soon.
''The construction of the bunkering terminal will start within one to two months and is expected to be completed within 39 months,'' vice chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority, R.M.P.B.Wickrama, told Bunkerworld today.
The $420 million first phase of the Sri Lankan project is scheduled to be completed in about three years.
The new Hambantota port will have 11 kilometres (km) of berths capable of handling 20 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year.
Included in the development plans are a gas-fired power plant project, a $1 billion oil refinery and the construction of the bunkering terminal.
The plan is for the bunkering terminal to handle up to 500,000 metric tonnes (mt) of oil products a year. Construction of the bunkering terminal is expected to cost about $87 million.
Sri Lanka-based bunker players told Bunkerworld that the new bunkering facility would be in a strategic location, close to key international shipping routes. One player said it was an ideal location for bunkering operations.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has won Chinese backing for the project. China is providing 85% of the cost under a special subsidised loan scheme.
''The construction of the bunkering terminal will start within one to two months and is expected to be completed within 39 months,'' vice chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority, R.M.P.B.Wickrama, told Bunkerworld today.
The $420 million first phase of the Sri Lankan project is scheduled to be completed in about three years.
The new Hambantota port will have 11 kilometres (km) of berths capable of handling 20 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year.
Included in the development plans are a gas-fired power plant project, a $1 billion oil refinery and the construction of the bunkering terminal.
The plan is for the bunkering terminal to handle up to 500,000 metric tonnes (mt) of oil products a year. Construction of the bunkering terminal is expected to cost about $87 million.
Sri Lanka-based bunker players told Bunkerworld that the new bunkering facility would be in a strategic location, close to key international shipping routes. One player said it was an ideal location for bunkering operations.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has won Chinese backing for the project. China is providing 85% of the cost under a special subsidised loan scheme.