CHEC Port City Colombo invests US$ 800 million for reclamation and construction of support facilities
A senior official involved in Sri Lanka’s Port City project has reportedly said that CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, which is a unit of China Communications, has invested US$ 800 million out of a total of US$ 1.4 billion in reclaiming land, and is preparing to market and build support facilities.
“Only 800 million US dollars from the initial investment of 1.4 billion US dollars has been spent so far,” Nihal Fernando, Project Manager for the Port City initiative has told EconomyNext.
The Port City is being rolled out with Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority (UDA).
In 2019, the project completed the reclamation of 269 hectares of land from the ocean south of the Colombo Port under the project’s first phase.
According to Fernando, the remainder of funds from the initial investment will be used to construct a marina for yachts and will also have a central park and other facilities.
The second phase of the project will see the firm marketing the project for international investments.
According to reports, overall, the Port City, also called the Colombo International Financial Centre, is expected to attract US$ 15 billion in investments to Sri Lanka and the first three buildings have already been earmarked.
Fernando has further noted that some of the construction has already started and the first building will open in 2023.
A new law is being drafted on how the Port City will operate, to make arbitration and settlement of international contracts easier and become a hub for such activity in South Asia, the media report has stated.
The law has been in the drafting stage for two years and will complement a new banking law to be enacted in 2021, which will include provisions on how banks will operate in the Port City.
“Now everything has lined up and the government is also very keen about this. The law will be coming out soon,” Fernando has said.
“The relationship between China and Sri Lanka is getting stronger day by day,” he has said, adding that the Port City is expected to be completed in 2040.
OSL take:
The Colombo Port City project is one of the major projects that would take Sri Lanka to the next generation. Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, the ease of doing business environment in the country and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country have made it an attractive business destination in the South Asian region. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore explore business opportunities in Sri Lanka with confidence.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20200129/Z_1 |