-- Colombo Port City is the largest foreign direct investment project in Sri Lanka's history.
-- It will be "the main income generator for the future of Sri Lanka," Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said.
-- Dimantha Mathew, head of research at Colombo-based investment bank First Capital Holdings PLC, said the project is important for Sri Lanka which is trying to establish itself as a regional financial hub.
-- The Sri Lankan government is now planning to build Colombo Port City into the country's first special economic zone for services.
by Shiran Illanperuma
COLOMBO, Sept. 26 -- In September 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping and then Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa jointly inaugurated cooperation project Colombo Port City, which planned to reclaim 269 hectares of land from the sea to build a brand-new central business district (CBD) integrating finance, tourism, logistics and information technology for Sri Lanka's capital Colombo.
Six years have passed, and now the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) project in Sri Lanka's history is emerging as a city of the future set to reshape local and regional economy.
On Sept. 17, Rajapaksa, now Sri Lanka's prime minister, joined the celebration of the sixth anniversary of the project's groundbreaking ceremony, where he called Colombo Port City "a landmark project."
It will be "the main income generator for the future of Sri Lanka" to create 83,000 direct jobs and many more indirect job opportunities for Sri Lankans, he said.
Expressing special thanks to China for the investment, he said, "We used to hear many times that Sri Lanka had been losing its soil to sea erosion. However, by this project, Sri Lanka's land area got expanded, and for the first time in history, newly reclaimed Port City land is now part of Sri Lanka."
Aerial photo taken on Sept. 23, 2020 shows a view of the construction site of Colombo Port City in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (China's CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd./Handout via Xinhua)
EMERGING FROM SEA
As a flagship joint project between Sri Lanka and China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, Colombo Port City has powered through a turbulent six-year period, overcoming numerous challenges, including the Easter bombings in April 2019 hitting three luxury hotels near the project and affecting the country's tourism, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the country less than a year later.
Yue Yeqing, assistant general manager of China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd., a branch of CHEC undertaking the project, told Xinhua that the initial phase of land reclamation was completed two months ahead of schedule in 2019.
Since then, buildings of roads, bridges, pipe networks and green parks in the city have been implemented step by step, said Li Zenghui, engineering manager at CHEC.
"It is expected that all the municipal engineering in construction will be completed in 2021," Li said.
An artificial beach has already been completed and may open to the public soon, saplings have been planted to test the soil for a planned park, and yacht piers in the marina section of the project have already begun to operate, Li added.
