Sri Lanka clears Trincomalee oil tank farm deal with India

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 4

Sri Lanka’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved a milestone deal to modernise most of its strategic petroleum storehouses jointly with India.The Cabinet also cleared a bid by Ashok Leyland for 500 new buses and a Mahindra and Mahindra offer to supply 750 jeeps to its police force.The development comes before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits Colombo after bad blood due to a soured deal for fertilisers which Sri Lanka says devastated its agriculture.The Trincomalee oil tank farm consisting of 100 oil storage tanks will involve three agreements. In one lease pertaining to modernising 61 British-era tanks, Indian Oil Corporation will hold a minority stake of 49 per cent with the rest for Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), which will also operate the remaining tanks.India has coveted the Trincomalee farm tanks as it was averse to a foreign company operating them in the vicinity of its shoreline. Talks were being held intermittently since 1987 but the big breakthrough came when Sri Lanka landed in an economic crisis this year. India wasted little time and dispatched Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in October, who pointedly toured the tank farms.