A BRIEF PROFILE OF THE TRINCOMALEE HIGH SECURITY ZONE AND OTHER LAND ISSUES IN TRINCOMALEE DISTRICT Bhavani Fonseka and Mirak Raheem May 2008 The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is an independent, non-partisan organization that focuses primarily on issues of governance and conflict resolution. Formed in 1996 in the firm belief that the vital contribution of civil society to the public policy debate is in need of strengthening, CPA is committed to programmes of research and advocacy through which public policy is critiqued, alternatives identified and disseminated. Address: 24/2 28th Lane, off Flower Road, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka Telephone: +94 (11) 2565304/5/6 Fax: +94 (11) 4714460 Web www.cpalanka.org Email
[email protected] 2 | Page CONTENTS CONTENTS 3 PURPOSE 4 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS IN BRIEF 5 FOR REDUCING THE HSZ 5 FOR RESETTLEMENT AND RELOCATION 5 FOR ADDRESSING RELATED LEGAL ISSUES 5 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRINCOMALEE 6 1. BACKGROUND TO THE TRINCOMALEE HIGH SECURITY ZONE 7 1.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF LAND ISSUES 7 1.2 BACKGROUND TO HIGH SECURITY ZONES 8 1.3 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRINCOMALEE HSZ 9 1.4 LEGAL RIGHTS AND LEGAL CHALLENGES 10 2. SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT PLANS 12 2.1 SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE 12 2.2 NEGENAHIRA NAVODAYA 13 2.3 COAL POWER STATION 14 2.4 THE OUTER CIRCULAR ROAD AND THE RELATED BUFFER ZONE 15 3. THE ‘REDUCED’ TRINCOMALEE HSZ: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES 16 3.1 REDUCTION OF THE HSZ? 16 3.2 CHALLENGES TO RESETTLEMENT 16 3.3 THE SITUATION OF COMMUNITIES WHO WILL NOT BE RESETTLED IN THE ‘NEW’ HSZ 19 4.