ECT won’t be sold or leased out

• All Cabinet ministers were opposed to alienation of ECT
• Nothing for port workers to worry
• Alienation of national assets was the policy of the UNP

By Aneesha Manage- Tangalle

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said that the  East Container Terminal of Colombo would neither be sold off nor leased out, and therefore the port workers on strike had nothing to worry.

Making some brief remarks to the media at his Tangalle Carlton residence, he said the alienation of national assets was the policy of the United National Party (UNP), and therefore, there was no mandate for the present government to proceed with such policies.  He said almost all the Cabinet ministers were opposed to alienation of the ECT to another party. “Had the port workers talked to me, I could have explained everything to them,” he said.