The passenger ferry service between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai (KKS) near Jaffna in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, which was launched in October 2023 by the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), is scheduled to resume on 13 May, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said.
The ferry service will be operated by a private operator, IndSri Ferry Services, selected by SCI in consultation with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL).
In order to make the service affordable and attractive for passengers, the Government of India has decided to bear the cost towards applicable taxes and other charges to the tune of over LKR 25 million per month for a period of 1 year. Similarly, GOSL has reduced the deviation tax currently charged to passengers leaving Sri Lanka by passenger vessels and ships.
Strengthening maritime connectivity between India and Sri Lanka was a vital component of the vision document for economic partnership jointly adopted during President Ranil Wickremesinghe 's visit to India in July 2023.
The resumption of the ferry service is an affirmation of the people-centric policies of the Government of India. In his remarks during the launch of the service in October 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had highlighted that connectivity is not only about bringing two cities closer but bringing countries and its people closer. He mentioned that the people of Sri Lanka will benefit from the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor launched during the G20 summit in India in September 2023, as multimodal connectivity between our two countries is strengthened.
In the future, connectivity with Sri Lanka will be further enhanced through electricity grid interconnection, two-way multipurpose pipeline and setting up a land connectivity economic corridor.
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