Proposed Hambantoto Port: China project

Presidential initiative. The development of the sleepy fishing village of Hambanthota into a major entrepôt trading port is a initiative of President Rajapakse. As a patriot and leader he is well aware of the dangers that poverty, helplessness and hopelessness spawn. He has understood that desperation and marginalization breed terrorism. He has, therefore, launched this major development project in the South with Chinese aid and assistance.

Entrepôt on the ancient Maritime Silk Road: This was apparently known to mariners in ancient times—to the intrepid Greek navigators of Alexander the Great in 300 BC and Ptolemy in his map of Taprobane named this safe anchorage Diyonsii. It was a place where the seafarers from the East met those from the West and this will become a reality once again.

Hambantota located northeast of Dondra Head, the southernmost point.

Origin of the name: It was a Malay settlement for a long time and the older folk amongst them relate a delightful story of how the place came to be known by its present name. This was derived from the Malay seafaring boats known as ‘sampans’ or ‘shanbans’ and thus the harbour or ‘thota’ of the sampans which eventually became ‘Hambanthota’ and the people thereof as ‘Hambayas’ or the ‘people of the sampans.’

The most important objectives of the Hambantota Port Development is to synchronize the different interlocking features of development such as shipping, trans-shipment, ship-building, bunkering, the handling of large scale fuel products, increased bunkering, and catering to increased exports and imports, for which the Port of Colombo did not have space and facilities.

 The all-purpose development at Hambantota involves the development of the new Hambantota Port, a new oil refinery, an international convention centre, a new international airport at Viravila, the extension of the Southern Railway Line and the construction and completion of the Southern Expressway. 

Establishing modern-day infrastructure is absolutely essential to the opening of the southeastern quadrant of the Island to the development of the region’s natural and human resources. Uva-Vellassa was once the rice-bowl of Ruhuna-rata and the word ‘Vellassa’ means ‘a hundred thousand fields’ fed by hundreds of reservoirs that were destroyed during the Uva Uprising of 1818 by the British. This was exhaustively documented by the late Prof. Vimalananda Tennekoon.

The region could once again produce rice in abundance, citrus, bananas, dates, Palmyra products, milk, curd and honey, tea, rubber and coconut and tropical hardwood timber. The production of salt and the downstream development of salt-based industries is not far off.

It is rich in archaeological and historical sites that date back to the pre-Christian Era. This includes one of the holiest sites for Buddhists and Hindus at Kataragama with its seven hills. It holds some beautiful wild life parks and natural reserves where elephants, buffalo, sambhur, boar, bear, leopard, and deer roam. The bird-life is gorgeous with peacock, pink-flushed flamingoes, painted storks, duck, teal, snipe, and a veritable host of other migratory birds from the Northern hemisphere that winter here.

The range of blue mountains to the north stand like a rampart protecting the Uva Valley beyond and possess some of the most scenic spots in the Island such as Haputale, Ella, and Hakgala. The tea plantations and market-gardens of that cool Valley defy description and are a balm to the hot and dusty traveler from the plains. The health resort of Bandarawela nestles just below the inner rim of the south-eastern chain of mountains dominated by the beautiful and majestic peak of Namunukula.

The natural advantages along with the opening of the new international airport would provide the impetus for the development of tourism and eco-tourism as this part of the country has enormous, and yet untapped, potential. The key, of course, is the essential infrastructure to help it happen.