Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister shows green light for port city after long haul back

Dec 02, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today said the country plans to have a 'unique financial and business district' in Colombo when the sea reclamation project by a Chinese firm is resumed.

"Hopefully if the Port City projects get underway, I think there will be some sort of landfill there that could have the makings of a special financial and business district which will be a unique one in South Asia," Wickremesinghe told a gathering celebrating 30-years of the formal establishment of the Colombo Stock Exchange. Sri Lanka’s much talked Chinese port city project was under water for a long period of time as the new administration has questioned project approvals by the last regime. The builders of Sri Lanka’s Chinese-funded port city project told LBO in an earlier interview that discussions are ongoing and they await a positive reply from the government after the suspension of work citing environment concerns by the new administration which came in to power in January. The 1.4 billion US dollar Chinese Port City was to be constructed between the Southern edge of the new Colombo South Port and the Fort Lighthouse.

The total area of sea to be reclaimed is 252 hectares. The Minister for Megapolis Champika Ranawaka also told LBO in an earlier interview that a port city is included in the Megapolis design, in close proximity to the China Port City, and plans would be harmonized.