The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House of Parliament

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I respond to Hon. Roshan Akmeemana’s Motion. Trincomalee Port is unique to Sri Lanka and globally significant—often cited as the world’s second-largest natural harbour. For a century we failed to develop it adequately or to build proper port-linked industries.

¶ 02 Meanwhile, people have lived for generations on extensive lands adjacent to the harbour—not on the sea itself. Over the past 50–70 years, with underdevelopment, people settled variously, and, I state responsibly, some were settled through political projects to win votes, including distribution of prime lands. We know this history.

¶ 03 People have lived two to three generations on these lands; government offices too stand there. We knew of this issue even before taking office. Our party has consistently stood both for developing Trincomalee Port and for granting land rights to long-settled residents, without regard to ethnicity or religion. Our approach is both developmental and humane: the port must be developed—there is no alternative—and port-linked industries are vital for the province’s growth.

¶ 04 Hon. Roshan Akmeemana, the Deputy Minister, and our party worked hard, discussing with the Government and the President. Though our Government is only a year old and I became Minister on November 20, after the Budget passed on March 21 and with local polls in May limiting actions, we still worked systematically.

¶ 05 Why were land titles not given for 40 years after the 1984 Gazette? That is the real question. Briefly, based on Hon. Roshan’s request, we convened with the Prime Minister, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti (Lands & Irrigation Deputy Minister Dr. Susil Ranasinghe), Hon. Kumara Jayakody (Energy), Hon. Arun Hemachandra, Hon. Roshan Akmeemana, SLPA leadership, and Energy Ministry officials about six weeks ago and reached decisions.

¶ 06 A key complication: in Muththunagar, land reservations were granted to four solar power companies before our time—Blue Sun Technologies (Pvt) Ltd (Dec 2022 and Nov 2023), Sun Scape (Pvt) Ltd (Mar 2023), and Future Energy Resources (Pvt) Ltd (Mar 2024)—with lease agreements in Oct 2023, Feb 2024, July 2024, and Aug 23, 2024, executed in line with Energy Ministry needs and SLPA leases. These are not our Government’s grants. Undoing such agreements is complex and cannot be done ad hoc; it requires due process.

¶ 07 From our meeting, we reached five decisions. First: of the previously identified 790 hectares not required by SLPA, where about 4,000 families live, we will issue titles to all eligible residents, including those lacking documentation, after proper verification.

¶ 08 [Further implementation details to continue in administrative process.]