Sri Lanka’s initiative of developing Trincomalee as an “industrial harbour” is now underway with a Korean firm stepping into setting up a container factory in Trincomalee with US$ 50 million investment.
The economically beleaguered nation will put up a couple of thousand hectares of land on lease to set up industries in a special economic zone and the associated development of the strategically located port, stirring up geopolitical interest in that part of the Indian Ocean.
Yakdong Industries Co. Ltd., one of the 10 leading companies in Korea has been given 50 acres site in Trincomalee for the establishment of a large scale container manufacturing factory in Trincomalee, according to the office of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunwardena.
Yakdong Industries Chairman Heung SeokGwon and the Vice Chairman Kyeong Won Shin called on Premier Gunawardena on Wednesday and assured that the constructions of the factory will be completed soon so as to commence production within the next six months.
The factory will be established on a 50 acres site in Trincomalee and the expected production is 10,000 containers per month. It has already selected 32 welders from Sri Lanka to work initially in Korea and they will be used to supervise the employees in the Sri Lankan factory in future. They will recruit 70 more employees to the factory.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s office said that leading international freight companies have already given orders to build containers.
The factory will also purchase discarded containers to be renovated and used for several other purposes such as sales outlets, dwellings, agricultural purposes etc.
Sri Lanka Ports Authority owns a large land, some 2,400 hectares, that surrounds the port of Trincomalee,” senior official of the SLPA said.
The plan to develop an industrial harbour in Trincomalee is a long-standing plan to monetize land that belongs to the Sri Lanka Port Authority, by getting foreign and local investment for a special economic zone, an industrial park, or an energy hub.
This would also entail the development of the port for non-containerized cargo traffic, such as cement, coal or other industrial raw material.
