Developing Hambantota Port: The Controversy in 2019

Michael Roberts

An aerial drone photo taken on March 28, 2024 shows the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka. Located in the south of Sri Lanka, the Hambantota Port is one of the signature projects of Belt and Road cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. (Photo by Xu Qin/Xinhua via Getty Images)

My Set of Bibliographical References

An Insider: “The Internal Tussles & Vagaries and Scheming that hindered the Development of the Hambantota Port Project,” 15 September 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/09/15/the-internal-tussles-vagaries-and-scheming-that-hindered-the-development-of-the-hambantoa-port-project/#more-55017

Chris Devonshire-Ellis: “The Real (not Secret) History of Hambantota,”,6 September 2021, ……………………………….. https://www.silkroadbriefing.com/news/2021/09/06/the-real-not-secret-history-of-hambantota/

 Deborah Brautigam & Meg Rithmire:No Debt Trap at Hambantota: False Picture on China’s Role,” 13 September 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/09/13/54997/#more-54997,

Fair Dinkum: “American Schemes of Global Bifurcation behind Hillman’s Story on Hambantota Port,” 8 September 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/09/08/american-schemes-of-global-bifurcation-behind-hillmans-story-on-hambantota-port/#more-54854

K.  Dharmasena: The Port of Colombo 1860-1939Colombo, 1989.

K. Dharmasena: “Colombo: Gateway and Oceanic Hub of Shipping,”in Frank Broeze (ed.) Brides of the Sea. Port Cities of Asia from the 16th -20th Centuries, NSW University Press, 1989, pp 152-72.

Lakshman Gunasekera: “Lakshman’s Hambantota Diarrhoeas,” 11 September 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/09/11/lakshmans-hambantota-diarrhoeas/#more-54926

 Mick Moore: “Spats about Ports in Sri Lanka: The Bigger Picture,” 10 September 2021, https://thuppahis.com/2021/09/10/spats-about-ports-in-sri-lanka-the-bigger-picture/#more-54894

Michael Roberts: “The Two Faces of the Port City: Colombo in Modern Times,” in Frank Broeze (ed.) Brides of the Sea. Port Cities of Asia from the 16th -20th Centuries, NSW University Press, 1989, pp 173-87.

Michael Roberts as Thuppahi: Map Illustrating the Hegemony Secured by Colombo within Island Lanka in the Twentieth Century,” 16 September 2021,

Map Illustrating the Hegemony secured by Colombo within Island Lanka in the Twentieth Century

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Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, Colombo and Its Spaces, demography, devolution, economic processes, electoral structures, export issues, foreign policy, governance, growth pole, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, population, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, world events & processes

2 responses to “Developing Hambantota Port: The Controversy in 2019

  1. Chandra Maliyadde

    I was the Secretary, Ministry of Southern Region Development at the time. Most of what is stated is very accurate.

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