Sri Lanka can benefit from India’s fast-tracked industrialization: President Ranil Wickermesinghe

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickermesinghe has said that in the backdrop of India becoming the world's most populated country while having industrialisation which is on fast track, Sri Lanka can reap the benefits, and plan to become an air and sea hub in the region.

Addressing the 30-year development plan of the Colombo North Port workshop here, Wickremesinghe highlighted the importance of probing the development in India to find the connectivity that is going to take place between India and Sri Lanka and pointed out the opportunities that India's southern neighbour would receive.

"By 2050, India will be the most populous country in the world. From 1.4 billion, it will be up to 1.7 billion people. The industrialization of India is happening fast, especially in some areas. You find Gujarat, Maharashtra and other one in southern India, especially in Tamil Nadu," Wickremesinghe said on Friday.

"But this is the beginning. From there it should spread to other areas. So, industrialization manufacturing is now taking place in India. It still has not reached the level that China reached somewhere in 2010. It still has to go there. So, if at all at some stage, it will be that the progress will be not arithmetic but geometrical progression," Wickremesinghe stated.

"So, we will have the development in India. Then what is the connectivity that's going to take place between India and Sri Lanka. Our closest point is in the north. Are we going to have a role in the role of ferries? Are we going to have more permanent structures? These are issues that we have to resolve and that will also determine the viability of our ports, especially of the port of Colombo. So in looking at the port there's only two issues which came to my mind.

"Firstly, it is the environment, especially the impact on fishing that we have to take seriously. Because before you start building you have to get the support of the people in the area," the Sri Lanka President said.

"We have to remember one thing only that what is going to take place in India, what's the development in Pakistan and what's the development going to be in Iran. Those three will decide the capacity, the number of TUs that we can have, the number of containers, the units we have would depend on that. As it is now, people have a very bright forecast for India, and that's possible if it can be achieved," Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

He also stressed that to become the hub of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka should adjust with the logistic and transport changes taking place with East to West railways in Africa undertaken by China. IANS

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