The Trincomalee strategic gateway in the Eastern province is to be re-positioned as a tourism and export hub under a National Physical Plan for 2018-2050 prepared with the inputs of around 3000 Sri Lankan scholars and experts and not a single American was not involved in the endeavour.
Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Patali Champika Ranawaka claimed that the Colombo-Trincomalee Economic Corridor (CTEC) development plan has a potential to generate 1.2 million new jobs by 2030.
The government was expected to invest US$ 400 million for initial infrastructure development activities over the 30-year period while attracting over US$ 4 billion foreign investment of some of the mega projects under public private partnerships.
He expressed the belief that Trincomalee could be developed as the Eastern Gateway to countries in the Bay of Bengal region, home to around 3 billion people, which will be will be fast developed within the next 20 years.
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) along with Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Sri Lankan Government has drawn up the blueprint for the CTEC.
Under the master plan, Trincomalee would be converted into an export hub by creating a clean industrial ecosystem, which can add value to the already abundant agriculture, aquaculture, minerals and resources in its hinterland.
Trincomalee would also be re-positioned as the Eastern Tourism Hub, by increasing regional connectivity through the development of the Colombo-Trincomalee economic corridor and the establishment of an international airport in Hingurakgoda.
The region will also be converted into an eastern logistics centre through the economic opportunities gained as a result of the many Free Trade Agreements Sri Lanka has entered into with South and South East Asian nations, as well from maritime traffic in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.
The third international airport and an international cricket stadium will also be constructed in the area while developing the Trincomalee harbour as an international port.
Korea Eximbank's collaboration with ADB is expected to make the CTEC development plan more implementable because Korean experts are expected to make augmentative contributions to the CTEC initiative based on the very experiences that Korea acquired while carrying out similar economic corridor development projects in 1970s to 1980s.
Therefore, people of this country should reject baseless allegations of bankrupt unqualified politicians linking US with Trincomalee development, Minister Ranawaka said.
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