Package of Joint Venture India in MoU signed in D

Special emphasis on Trinco tank farms: Upper tanks to be developed by joint venture, lower ones to be given to India on 50-year lease New Delhi insists new deal has big advantages for Sri Lanka, 2003 agreement gave entire tank farm to Indian Oil on lease

Some say India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi neatly cajoled his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe into swinging by New Delhi, making what was to be a private visit to attend a wedding into a one-day ‘working visit’-- and then got him entrapped to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

Others rubbish such a theory, but it seems that someone tipped off Ceylon Petroleum Corporation trade unions and wound them up to threaten a strike if the Sri Lankan Premier signed an MOU in New Delhi. The MOU, interalia, would hand over some of the oil tanks in Trincomalee to the Indian Oil Company.

It was a known fact that Petroleum Minister Chandima Weerakkody was against the move. He said so publicly and wanted an appointment with President Maithripala Sirisena to lodge a protest together with the trade unions. But the story goes that the President had not granted him an appointment on the basis that the Prime Minister was adamant in going ahead with the project and that it was in the premier’s hands. What followed was trade union action that caused havoc in and around petrol sheds in the country and traffic snarls from last Sunday night.

Wickremesinghe assured the trade unions thereafter that he would not sign any agreement with India in New Delhi without consulting the petroleum workers. But he had Strategic Development and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama do so in New Delhi. The MoU was not made public either. The Sunday Times obtained a copy (Please see inset for full text). They were both in the Hindi and English languages, with the English version to be considered in case of any interpretation issues.

The crux of the MoU is to give access to India in a whole range of economic activity in and around the Eastern Province with special emphasis on the World War II British built oil tanks. The 99 tanks are situated in two areas near the Trincomalee harbour. One is called the Lower Tank Farm, situated closer to the sea; the other is the Upper Tank Farm, which is on somewhat elevated ground. According to this week’s MoU, the Upper Tank Farm will be developed by