State-owned Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has announced plans to issue international bonds to raise funds to repay its debts and embark on new port expansion projects.
According to SLPA chairman Saliya Wickramasuriya, the SLPA is currently in the process of obtaining an international credit rating before making a bond issue to raise funds.
Wickramasuriya said that in order to engage in debt swapping via an international bond issue, the SLPA has completed a credit assessment with Fitch Rating.
“We plan to expand this internationally into a full-blown international credit rating over the coming months which may allow us access to bond markets,” he said.
Wickramasuriya added that the decision to go ahead with a bond issue would depend on the cost of debt but overall it may enable the SLPA to derive “some efficiencies fiscally.”
According to Wickramasuriya the SLPA has the financial resources to undertake many of its own projects but it also has the responsibility of repaying loans taken for previous projects.
“We bear the brunt of the cost for all our port projects including having to repay the remaining yen loans from the mid-1980s given by Japan for the construction of the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT),” he said. The JCT, Colombo's main deepwater container terminal, was built with Japanese aid. Colombo port carries a debt burden of about $1.5 billion in addition to its operating costs, said Wickramasuriya. Most new port projects planned in Sri Lanka, apart from the new south port of Colombo, would not generate immediate commercial returns.
The SLPA is currently evaluating bids from international port operators and shipping lines to build and operate the first container terminal in the planned new south port of Colombo.
Wickramasuriya said that the SLPA is seeking partners who can ramp up the container transshipment business in the shortest possible time and generate improved cash flows for the port authority.
According to SLPA chairman Saliya Wickramasuriya, the SLPA is currently in the process of obtaining an international credit rating before making a bond issue to raise funds.
Wickramasuriya said that in order to engage in debt swapping via an international bond issue, the SLPA has completed a credit assessment with Fitch Rating.
“We plan to expand this internationally into a full-blown international credit rating over the coming months which may allow us access to bond markets,” he said.
Wickramasuriya added that the decision to go ahead with a bond issue would depend on the cost of debt but overall it may enable the SLPA to derive “some efficiencies fiscally.”
According to Wickramasuriya the SLPA has the financial resources to undertake many of its own projects but it also has the responsibility of repaying loans taken for previous projects.
“We bear the brunt of the cost for all our port projects including having to repay the remaining yen loans from the mid-1980s given by Japan for the construction of the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT),” he said. The JCT, Colombo's main deepwater container terminal, was built with Japanese aid. Colombo port carries a debt burden of about $1.5 billion in addition to its operating costs, said Wickramasuriya. Most new port projects planned in Sri Lanka, apart from the new south port of Colombo, would not generate immediate commercial returns.
The SLPA is currently evaluating bids from international port operators and shipping lines to build and operate the first container terminal in the planned new south port of Colombo.
Wickramasuriya said that the SLPA is seeking partners who can ramp up the container transshipment business in the shortest possible time and generate improved cash flows for the port authority.