Decks are being cleared for the early re-launch of the controversial $1.4-billion Colombo Port City Project, with the Sri Lankan and Chinese governments inching closer to a resolution of outstanding issues.
The proposed visit of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to China during April 6-8 is expected to throw greater clarity on the project.
Conceived during the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, the project was launched when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Colombo in September 2014. The visit became a major election issue during the campaign for the presidential polls in January last year.
Mr. Wickremesinghe, who was then in the Opposition and backed the candidature of Maithripala Sirisena, had even declared that the project would be scrapped. A month after Mr. Sirisena defeated Mr. Rajapaksa, the project was suspended in February and the new government decided to have a “comprehensive environmental impact assessment.”
Though there had been reports of concerns expressed by India about the project from the beginning, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in mid-2015 categorically denied such reports.
A few days back, the Sri Lankan Cabinet gave a formal approval for the recommencement of the project and extension of the validity of the current agreement between the government and the project company CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd to another six months. The firm is a subsidiary of the China Communications Construction Company, an entity listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Joint-venture firm Malik Samarawickrama, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, who recently visited China as part of preparations for the Prime Minister’s visit, told The Hindu on Saturday morning that it had been decided to float a joint venture firm for taking up development of reclaimed land. The company would undertake the task of land-filling as well.
