SL not to renegotiate Hambantota Port deal with China: Prez

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said that he would not renegotiate the Hambantota Port agreement with China and ensured that the security of the port lied with the Sri Lankan side.

Speaking to Colombo-based foreign correspondents at the Presidential Secretariat here on Thursday, Rajapaksa said he would not renegotiate the commercial agreement of the project as it was already signed, and he was studying to see if the entire security of the port was under Sri Lanka's control, reports Xinhua news agency.

He said that he would not renegotiate the 99-year lease agreement of the port, as this was purely commercial and he did not want to convey a message to investors that commercial agreements would change every time a new government was elected to power.

"I want Hambantota to be just like Colombo Port and all our other ports. We should have control over its security because this is Sri Lanka's asset."

Rajapaksa said that if additional clauses were needed to be inserted to reassure the security deal, then the government would go ahead with it.

"I am now not here to renegotiate the agreement as it is a commercial contract and I am not worried about the commercial aspect. But I am concerned about the security aspect as to whether there are any security lapses. That is what I am discussing with China," the President said.

Rajapaksa further said that he had conveyed these concerns to China via a visiting special envoy, and Beijing too had agreed that the security aspects must be with the Sri Lankan government and they are ready to reassure the security deal.

Meanwhile, he said the Mattala International Airport, in close proximity to the Hambantota Port, would be developed by Sri Lanka so that it could be used as an alternate international airport in the future.

He dismissed plans of discussing the development of the airport with India, saying it would be developed by Sri Lanka alone.