Formula One Track To Be Built On Planned ‘New Port City’ Colombo

[mirage7777]

Formula One Track To Be Built On Planned ‘New Port City’ Colombo

By Abdul H. Azeez

A Formula One track is planned for the New Port City to be constructed in the vicinity of the Colombo Port. According to the Chairman, Ports Authority, Dr. Priyath Wickrama an eight lane F1 track will “definitely” be a part of the New Port City, he said.

Formula One has strict requirements for its tracks and the Sri Lankan track, if it is to be a reality, must be carefully planned if it is to be implemented in the New Port City. Currently planners are formulating ways of fitting the track in the premises of the city whilst also allowing for maximum leeway for commercial activities. Space is also a problem so a synergistic approach with commercial roads must also be adopted. F1 tracks around the globe often use sections of public roads for racing.

The New Port City will set Sri Lanka up for its own city-on-the-sea akin to Palm Island and The World, Dubai. The city is to be constructed on filled land taking up the area between the Southern edge of the new Colombo South Port and the Fort Lighthouse. The total area of sea reclaimed is set to be 450 acres.

‘The New Port City Development Project will be implemented in March 2011’ said Chairman, Ports Authority, Dr. Priyath Wickrama in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Leader. The New Port City is a concept of President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was apparently inspired while out on a visit to inspect the landfill being constructed for the Colombo South port.

‘The new city is going to be well planned. Colombo unfortunately is not very well planned anymore. It was a quite well planned city during colonial times but has since become haphazard,’ said Wickrama.

The initiatives for the city involves shopping complexes, hotels, office complexes, etc. There is also a marina planned for boats and other water based activities.

The construction is set to begin in March 2011 with an initial budget of $450 million. The filling of the land is projected to take two years while subsequent infrastructure construction is projected to take another one and a half years.

‘The Ports Authority will call for investors to buy land for use and construction as the project gets underway’ said Wickrama adding that private sector funds will be key in ensuring that the project is completed in time. He also said that many investors both local and foreign have shown ‘a lot of interest’ in investing already.

‘The models have been constructed and feasibility studies have been done. All the expertise has been provided by us and no foreign consultants have been approached so far. The technology and knowledge needed for filling the land is sophisticated. A monorail is planned to reduce congestion in the city. Entrants will be encouraged to park their cars at the entrance and use the monorail to navigate the city,’ he said. According to Wickrama the funding will likely come from a Chinese source as some interest has already been conveyed from there. Wickrama also mentioned that bonds will be issued to raise funds in addition to private investments.

‘The Ports Authority has been financially stable but could perform much better,’ said General Manager Capt. Nihal Keppetipola, adding that a key reason for this is the foreign exchange loss suffered in the repayment of a yen loan taken for super infrastructure developments a decade ago. ‘The New Port City project more than anything else will be a massive revenue earner for the Ports Authority,’ he said.

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Edited January 10, 2011 by mirage7777

[Pericles]

:Massive facepalm: "F1 tracks around the globe often use sections of public roads for racing" Thats not responsible journalism. Isn't it just two tracks? The old Nurburgring doesn't count now.

And WTF is an 8 lane F1 track?

Either both the author and the interviewee hasn't ever watched a race or its just more hot air to get some press. Tho even a smaller track to serve local racing would be great.

[BLu3HaZe]

Good and bad news, the country is going to get into even more financial difficulty, but hey, SL getting a proper F1 track is great! If SL racing gets all advanced and hyped up, IMO there'd be better use of the 'GT' cars we have here...

@Peri - Maybe they just mean a track which is 8 F1 cars wide?

[madmax]

Just another diversion to deepen the pockets of the "king"

[Elvis_Pil]

:Massive facepalm: "F1 tracks around the globe often use sections of public roads for racing" Thats not responsible journalism. Isn't it just two tracks? The old Nurburgring doesn't count now.

And WTF is an 8 lane F1 track?

Either both the author and the interviewee hasn't ever watched a race or its just more hot air to get some press. Tho even a smaller track to serve local racing would be great.

Agreed- The FIA President wanted us to concentrate on CARTs and entry level open wheel racing. Its a display of ignorance making a comment like that.

On the F1 tracks that have purpose built race road combines with public roads I think you got got Spa, Turkey, Korea, AbuDhabi, Valencia

[Ripper]

imho...good move. not only it will increase tourism but also it's good PR for the country that has seen it's darkest years for a very long time.

And it's good the track is not in hambantota since it would've been quite silly to have something like this in such a place

and about pocketing money... I'm sure these guys have enough ways and means of doing that without having to build a track and get too much of attention on them. With a very weak almost non-existent opposition...i'd really doubt anybody would have to go through all this hassle to make a few millions

[Supra_Natural]

Agreed- The FIA President wanted us to concentrate on CARTs and entry level open wheel racing. Its a display of ignorance making a comment like that.

On the F1 tracks that have purpose built race road combines with public roads I think you got got Spa, Turkey, Korea, AbuDhabi, Valencia

Plus Singapore and Monaco are both on 100% public roads.

[The Stig]

Hmmm i wonder if this would have the same fate our so called highways that were suppose to have 4 lanes but turned out to be 2 had

But it would be a nice idea to also include a drag strip too, you know so we can take the racing off the streets

Edited January 11, 2011 by The Stig

[BLu3HaZe]

But it would be a nice idea to also include a drag strip too, you know so we can take the racing off the streets

+1

[scds]

imho...good move. not only it will increase tourism but also it's good PR for the country that has seen it's darkest years for a very long time.

And it's good the track is not in hambantota since it would've been quite silly to have something like this in such a place

and about pocketing money... I'm sure these guys have enough ways and means of doing that without having to build a track and get too much of attention on them. With a very weak almost non-existent opposition...i'd really doubt anybody would have to go through all this hassle to make a few millions

Well said

its a good initiative.

lets not not try to judge (in this case a ridiculous claim that the President of Sri Lanka wants to pocket money out of a F1 track ) before things have even started, or you could well end up just like our opposition with a jokers hat

Edited January 12, 2011 by scds

[Ripper]

Hmmm i wonder if this would have the same fate our so called highways that were suppose to have 4 lanes but turned out to be 2 had

But it would be a nice idea to also include a drag strip too, you know so we can take the racing off the streets

1+ for the drag strip with a proper christmas tree, timers etc etc

on highways...yeah it's pretty horrid that the southern highway ended up with two lanes...

but judging by the ongoing work for the katunayake express road...that looks like at least 3 lanes per side...

[Elvis_Pil]

1+ for the drag strip with a proper christmas tree, timers etc etc

on highways...yeah it's pretty horrid that the southern highway ended up with two lanes...

but judging by the ongoing work for the katunayake express road...that looks like at least 3 lanes per side...

'

Two lanes in the published amount - 4 will be practical amount

[The Stig]

Hmmm lets see, first we gotta check out how this island thing goes

[vishkid]

8 lanes? What is 8 lanes? Even if he meant 8 cars wide - that's pretty wide and most of the F1 tracks aint that wide for most part.

And if we built one - don't think Bernie's gonna come running. Will we be using it for GT racing or karts? Hmmmm ....

[BLu3HaZe]

Will we be using it for GT racing or karts?

Proper GT races with RWD cars should be fun! Maybe the M3 could return to racing again??

[Watchman]

Proper GT races with RWD cars should be fun! Maybe the M3 could return to racing again??

That'll be the only car running though..

[The Don]

With reference to the island project itself, wasn't the Dubai venture that this is based on a colossal failure and Dubai World, the developer needed to be bailed out by the Dubai government who then had to be bailed out by the Abu Dhabi government ?

While I do not oppose the idea of an F1 track in Sri Lanka (from a car enthusiast point of view I love the idea), but most recent projects have involved massive state investment and but very little short term return, and they were done for the purposes of long term enhancement of things like tourism, business interests or simply for prestige reasons. And these by countries like Abhu Dhabi, Qatar, Singapore, Malaysia etc. This is also against a back drop of some of the older tracks struggling to break even or bring new investment, including Silverstone which nearly lost its place in the F1 calendar. So I think I'm going to wait and see

But in all honestly I think projects like the southern highway, the airport express-way is going to bring a lot more short term benefits, as tourism is picking up, and will continue to pick up, and what will really bring them in hordes more is better infrastructure and security. I wonder if people have noticed how empty some of these Grand Prix grand stands tend to be.....

[BLu3HaZe]

That'll be the only car running though..

Don't be so negative, there's 350Z, Supra, 300ZX, Skylines, RX7s, RX8s and stuff running around nah (though I dunno how many will like the idea)

Edited January 12, 2011 by BLu3HaZe

[Watchman]

Don't be so negative, there's 350Z, Supra, 300ZX, Skylines, RX7s, RX8s and stuff running around nah (though I dunno how many will like the idea)

Didnt you just contradict your own statement

Edited January 13, 2011 by Watchman

[The Stig]

Don't be so negative, there's 350Z, Supra, 300ZX, Skylines, RX7s, RX8s and stuff running around nah (though I dunno how many will like the idea)

Dont forget the ricer cars turbo charged by subwoofers

[BLu3HaZe]

Didnt you just contradict your own statement

A bit, but surely not only one car will be there, I'm not saying loads of cars, atleast a few will do. An RX7 costs like 1-1.5M doesn't it? I'd bring one myself if I can get hold of one and could participate!

Edited January 13, 2011 by BLu3HaZe

[The Don]

Chaps, hopefully our own port city wont have to endure the same fate....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349532/Dubai-islands-falling-sea-Dubai-World-sinks-fund-crisis.html

[CyRaX]

But it would be a nice idea to also include a drag strip too, you know so we can take the racing off the streets