Sitting along the ancient "silk road" trading route and one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, the Hambantota port is intended to be the engine that will drive Sri Lanka’s economic recovery after decades of ethnic conflict.

Bidding for the Commonwealth Games is also part of the strategy.

Partly funded by a soft Chinese loan of $300 million (£194 million), the first phase of the deep sea port is scheduled to open in November.

The port, which has been named the "Magampura International harbour", is expected to create thousands of jobs in the region.

Sri Lanka hopes the port will get business from some of the 70,000 ships that cross the Indian Ocean each year.

The Government hopes that by the time the second phase is completed in 2014, the port on the island’s southern tip will have become a magnet for foreign investment in transshipment and spin-off business opportunities.

“We must announce to the world that this is a massive technological achievement built in Sri Lanka," said Rajapaksa.

"Therefore, we will not anymore be a nation that is satisfied with supplying only fuel and water to ships."

The first ship is expected to dock at the port in November.

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