Investors from Belgium, Singapore, Japan and Korea express interest in Sri Lanka’s Port City
The Colombo Port City in Sri Lanka has stated that foreign investors have expressed interest in investing in the Port City.
“Many investors from Belgium, Singapore, Japan, and Korea have pledged their willingness to commence various trade activities in the Colombo Port City (CHEC Port City Colombo),” Public Relations Head Kassapa Senarath has been quoted as saying in the local media.
He has said that they expect many other countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh to invest in this project.
Senarath has reportedly made this observation during a media session held to create the awareness on the current progress of the Port City Colombo development project.
The Port City Colombo (CHEC) will have over US$ 5.5 billion foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the next five years and already US$ 500 million of this has been invested.
The state owned Daily News has reported that the CHEC has commenced its first investment to the tune of US$ 1 billion for the construction of a high rise building for the proposed International Financial City, a mixed development project to be implemented in two phases.
Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) of the US was awarded the design contract of the building and the first phase is for US$ 400 million and the second for US$ 600 million.
In addition, two top Chinese investors are to invest a sum of US$ 4.5 billion during the next five years. According to reports, these investments are for a ‘Marina Bay,’ seven-star hotel complex and a super luxury residential complex and other infrastructure. Port City Colombo is a brand new city development built as an extension of the existing Colombo CBD, with an initial investment of US$ 1.4 billion and an expected US$ 15 billion overall investment when completed.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s Port City project in Colombo is one of the main development programmes in the island at present. It is one of the largest foreign direct investments and also poses many business/investment opportunities to foreign businesses/investors. Sri Lanka is fast gaining momentum as a business hub in the South Asian region due to its geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, ease of doing business environment in the country and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20200910/Z_4 |