Despite reports that India has officially communicated its agreement to the development of the West Container Terminal (WCT), The Morning learnt that there has been no agreement or communication to that effect yet. Following Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s statement yesterday (14) that a proposal was made to give the WCT to India, rumours of India’s acceptance of the proposal were widely circulated. However, The Morning learnt that an agreement has not yet been reached either officially or unofficially. After the collapse of the tripartite agreement between India, Japan, and Sri Lanka with regard to the development of the East Container Terminal (ECT) of the Colombo Port, which was proposed to be on a 51:49 stake, discussions moved on to handing over the WCT for development to a foreign party. State Minister of Regional Co-operation Tharaka Balasuriya told The Morning last week that, during its initial discussions with the Sri Lankan company handling the public-private partnership in Sri Lanka, namely John Keells Holdings, India’s Adani Group of Companies was willing to take on the WCT.

Source: The Nation February 14, 2021 23:05 UTC