Buoy broke due to Gota’s folly – Anura Priyadarshana Yapa

 Wednesday, 27 August 2014 

The buoy being used to pump oil from tankers arriving in Colombo to the port has broken due to the foolish acts by defence ministry secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, such as the reclaiming of land from the sea, says petroleum minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

The minister has made the remark during a chat with a leading Sri Lankan journalist. Since he cannot publish what the minister has told him in his media, that journalist has sent us that information through a third party.

At that conversation, petroleum minister Yapa has pointed out that the port city project of the Urban Development Authority that was built by reclaiming a 500 acre sea area has affected the natural wave system, which can clearly be evident in the sea area from Ratmalana to Wattala. This change has resulted in the sea area becoming rough, which was seen only during off-season previously. This has caused disruptions to port activities due to ships’ failure to enter the port, he has explained with examples.

As a direct result of the natural wave system getting affected in this manner, the buoy broke, the minister has pointed out. He also said massive projects of this nature being carried out without environment impact assessments do more damage than good to a country.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had to abandon his attempt to expand his port city further, up to Galle Face Green, in the face of objections by the managements of Shangrila and Galle Face Hotels. The two hotels have noted that tourists were visiting them not to see the port city, but the Indian Ocean. Saying all these to the journalist, minister Yapa has told him to give the information to the media without quoting him.