According to informed sources in New Delhi, the need for a tight timetable arose from a feeling that much could have been done in the field of India-Sri Lanka economic cooperation in the last two years, after the pro-China Mahinda Rajapaksa government yielded place to a pro-India and pro-West regime headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in January 2015.
India is also anxious to erase the impression in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, that it takes too much time over projects it undertakes; that the Chinese are infinitely faster and therefore are more desirable as development partners.
Of course, the Sri Lankans themselves are slow and given to drag their feet over schedules, not to speak of a tendency to back out of commitments even when a project is ready to be started, as in the case of the 500 mw coal fired plant at Sampur which was called off at the eleventh hour after six years of bilateral preparation.
After the Apr 25 talks in New Delhi between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Ranil Wickremesinghe, an elaborate Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and the Sri Lankan Minister of Development Strategies, Malik Samarawickrama.
Authoritative sources in New Delhi said that the first moves in the projects will take place between mid-May and August 2017. By the end of May, the Sri Lankan government will issue a Letter of Intent to the Government of India or its representative, for a re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fired 500 megawatt capacity power plant in Kerewelapitiya near Colombo.
For the LNG Terminal/Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Kerawalapitiya a Joint Venture will be formed involving entities from Sri Lanka, India and Japan, for which modalities will be worked out by July end. Sri Lanka will issue a Letter of Intent for the FSRU and the LNG package to India by mid May. A Joint Working Group (JWG) will be constituted for the project which will meet for the first time in the first half of May.
By August end, India will submit a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to Sri Lanka on the piped gas distribution system and retail outlets for the supply of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to the transportation sector. The LNG project also envisages a piped gas distribution system; and conversion of liquid fuel-based power plants to R-LNG fired plants.
As regards the 50 MW (extendable to 100 MW) solar power plant in Sampur in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka will issue a Letter of Intent to India or its representative by the end of May.
Giant Oil tanks in Trincomalee
The two countries have decided that the 84 giant oil tanks in the Upper Tank Farm in Trincomalee will be “jointly developed” by the Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). A Joint Venture (JV) will be set up for this by the end of July. Business development proposals for the Joint Venture will be prepared by the JV by September 2017.
The JV will give “priority” to the development of ten tanks in the Upper Tank Farm for the “exclusive use” of the Government of Sri Lanka. The land in the Upper Tank Farm, which is currently in the possession of LIOC as per the 2003 agreement, will be leased to the JV through LIOC. The land of the Lower Tank Farm, which is also in the possession of LIOC as per the 2003 agreement, will be leased to LIOC directly. The period of all the leases will be 50 years, extendable up to a maximum of 99 years by mutual consent.
Earlier, in 2003, the LIOC had taken all the 99 tanks in the Upper and Lower Tanks Farms, and the land on which they stood, on lease for 35 years under an agreement signed by the Sri Lankan Treasury Secretary, the LIOC and the CPC.
India and Sri Lanka have agreed to build a port, a petroleum refinery and other industries in Trincomalee, for which the governments of Sri Lanka and India will set up a Joint Working Group by June end.
The two countries will jointly set up Industrial Zones or Special Economic Zones in identified locations in Sri Lanka, the details of which will be submitted by Sri Lanka to India in the beginning of May.
By June end, Sri Lanka will submit to India a list of road projects to be considered for joint development. The two countries have already agreed to develop a Mannar-Jaffna and Mannar-Trincomalee highway; and to build a Dambulla-Trincomalee Expressway with Indian investment.
As regards railway upgrading and purchase of rolling stock, Sri Lanka will submit to India by June end, a list of railway projects for its consideration.
India and Sri Lanka will build a Container Terminal in Colombo Port as a Joint Venture, which includes Indian investments considering the fact that most of transshipment in Colombo Port relates to India. Sri Lanka will announce the award of the contract for the container terminal by May end.
In a significant departure from the past, when India-Sri Lanka economic cooperation did not include agriculture, the two countries have now decided to get their agriculture ministries to meet and bring out a Concept Paper by June end.
The projects envisaged include livestock development, water management and agro-based industries.
It was agreed that the MoU may be amended or supplemented in writing by mutual agreement. To enable better coordination and implementation, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade (which is close to the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s office); and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (the agency on the Indian side which is primarily interested in the projects); will act as the focal points.
Stress on Joint Ventures
Sources in New Delhi considered it important to draw attention to the fact that the projects in the MoU will be executed by “Joint Ventures” between Indian and Sri Lankan entities. They were keen to allay fears in Sri Lanka that India is out to gobble up Sri Lanka’s resources by executing projects unilaterally.
Source:- BD news
The post To counter China quickly, India draws up tight schedule for projects in Sri Lanka appeared first on Indian Defence Update.
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