Sri Lankan Minister Visits Goa Shipyard
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Monday, March 28, 2016
Sri Lanka's Minister of State for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene visited the Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) at the Vasco town, located around 40 kms from Panaji in India and inspected Sri Lankan ships under construction, the Press Trust of India reported.
He inspected the progress of the two Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV) being built for Sri Lanka Navy at Goa Shipyards.
Wijewardene held discussion with GSL Chairman and Managing Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital along with the shipyard officials on the progress of the ship building process.
They also visited an almost completed similar type AOPV being built for the Indian Coast Guard to see the facilities and equipment fitted on board. The first AOPV is scheduled to join the SLN fleet in August 2017 and the second one year after.
The minister toured the yard with the CMD and took stock of progress of the construction of Sri Lankan Patrol Vessels, a GSL spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Goa Shipyard-built 10 fast interceptor boats were inducted into the Mauritius police force recently by prime minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth during their Independence Day celebrations.
GSL has successfully completed the delivery of 11 such vessels ahead of the contractual schedule, the first major export order that was clinched by the shipyard in mid-2014.
GSL is executing large export orders from Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Mauritius and has order book of over Indian Rs 1,200 crore ($180 million)