Colombo: Sri Lanka on Thursday officially signed an agreement with India to jointly rebuilding agriculture the era of World War II-era strategic in the port district of Trincomalee Island.
Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said that the agreement to develop a strategic trinomalee oil tank complex, commonly known as Trinco Oil Tank Farm, was signed tonight.
He said the signatories were the Financial Secretary for the Government of Sri Lanka, Land Commissioner, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, a local operator of the Indian oil company (LIOC) and the new Petroleum Trinco Terminal, Gammanpila emphasized that 85 of the 99 tanks will now be under the control of Sri Lanka Which previously remained under control of India.
“New historical milestones in India-Sri Lanka, economic and energy partnerships! Indian High Commission in Colombo Tweeted.
Earlier this week, the Lankan government said that after reviewing three existing agreements with the Indian government regarding Trinco’s tank farm, both parties had reached an agreement to Implementing a Joint Development Project.
The Cabinet has approved a proposal to allocate 24 and 14 oil tanks from the Trincomalee oil tank complex to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and each local operator of the Indian oil company (LIOC) while the remaining 61 oil tanks must be developed under Trinco Petroleum.
PVT Terminal.
Ltd., with CPC shares (51%) & LIOC (49%).
A spokesman for the Joint Cabinet (Minister) Udaya Gammanpila said that the joint venture would be a 50-year lease period.
The signing has come in the middle of the opposition to Agreement by nationalist Buddhist monks, opposition groups and petroleum unions.
BE How many of them have vowed to move the judiciary to find an agreement cancellation.
The union at the press direction here on Thursday claimed that the move would eventually facilitate Indian people to take full control of the tank.
The New Testament will be an extension of the 2002 agreement with the local operator of the Indian oil company, LIOC.
Sri Lanka in 2002 entered the original agreement with India in the most strategic oil storage complex on the island, which was used as a supply base during World War II.
India has shown a strategic interest at Trincomalee Tank Farm which has been built by the British ruler to refill the warship and airplane.
In October, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said visiting the Secretary of Foreign Affairs Harsh Vardhan Shringla that Indian investors were invited to invest in the Island country and Sri Lanka wanted to resolve the trincomalee oil tank in a useful way for both countries.
World War II Oil Storage Facility, with a capacity of nearly 8 million oil barrels, located in the Trincomalee port district that benefited strategically has become the main bilateral economic partnership link for decades.
Since 2003, Lanka IOC, a subsidiary of Sri Lanka from India Major Indian Oil Oil Corporation (IOC), has leasing rights for 99 tanks in facilities for a period of 35 years for annual payments of USD 100,000.
Shringla also visited the oil storage site during his trip to Sri Lanka.
The visit was considered significant because the oil sector trade union in the country has demanded that tanks be brought under the control of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) state entity.
Formalization of the agreement came in the background of Sri Lanka who was seeking Indian assistance to plug in the current economic misery which was exacerbated by the ongoing foreign exchange crisis in the local economy.
The Sri Lankan-India oil tank storage business comes amid fears of installation of the Chinese influence that grows in this country.
Officials said that the island state has closed the only refinery for the inability to pay crude oil and negotiate credit lines with India for purchasing fuel.