KKS Cement Factory
Palaali airport
Colombo is trying to escape from the demand for international justice for Tamil genocide through trading strategic access to the eastern coast of Eezham Tamils with the USA. At the same time, New Delhi is locked in the game of seeking access to the western coast of Eezham Tamils from Mannaar to Jaffna. In the meantime, China is provided with mega construction contracts and long-term leases of coastal access in the South. The shaky SL regime in Colombo is busy with trading access to the coast with all the powers to maintain its grip. In the meantime, the powers locked in the gamed of geopolitics are also engaging with Mahinda Rajapaksa.
During the times of Rajapaksa, the SL military was constructing resorts in KKS. Sinhala ‘pilgrims’ have been promoted towards Thiruvadi-nilai in Maathakal, where Buddhist establishments were put up encouraging Sinhala ‘pilgrims’ to visit the place in large numbers. Colombo’s archaeologists claim Thiruvadinilai as the landing place of Sinhala-Buddhism to the island in 3rd century BC.
There are also plans of reviving the controversial KKS cement factory, which has been opposed by Eezham Tamils due to the danger of salinity of the groundwater of the peninsula.
The Jaffna Peninsula depends mainly on the limestone bed for the preservation of rainwater into groundwater.
The limestone was quarried for the factory, leaving a narrow margin along the coast. If at any time there is a breach in this margin or a tidal wave occurs, one is sure to find a lagoon in the quarried stretch.
The underground channels that bring in freshwater to the many aquifers of the peninsula have an underneath entry into sea adjacent to the locality of the quarries. It is obvious how indiscriminate quarrying and the possibility of seawater coming inside could affect the potable water of the masses.
Amidst such controversies, SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe is now talking about massive industrialisation while maintaining the area as a High-Security Zone of the SL military, which implies that KKS being transformed into a Sinhala Military Industrial Zone to accompany the ‘Sacred Zone’ of nearby Maathakal.
Mr Wickramasinghe has also given green signal to the SL Air Force (SLAF) to upgrade the Palaali airport as a regional airport with Indian assistance. Palaali airport is currently an integral part of the headquarters of the SL military controlling Jaffna.
Colombo is seizing more lands citing the expansion of the airport. The SL authorities were claiming that 1,000 acres of lands were needed for the extension of the runway. SL Prime Minister has recently gone on record citing the SL Air Force as 724 acres of lands were required for the upgrade.