The Sri Lankan government has cleared the decks for the controversial Colombo Port City project to resume.
Executives at the related Chinese companies who cannot be identified separately told the reporters that the project was expected to restart around February, after all the final details had been worked out.
We have given all the necessary clearances. Now it is up to the investors to sort out the minor details.
The absence of a proper EIA was cited as a major reason for pulling the US$1.4 billion project – which will see a spanking new business district the size of Monaco rise from the ocean – that was cleared by former China-friendly president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Colombo Port City is among the several big-ticket Chinese-backed infrastructure ventures put on hold after Rajapaksa lost in January’s election.
Inaugurated by President Xi Jinping in September and financed by state-controlled and Hong Kong-listed China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) and executed by its subsidiary CHEC Port City Colombo, the project has driven a wedge between Beijing and Colombo, once one among China’s strongest allies in the region.
Under the original agreement, CCCC would reclaim 233 hectares off Colombo coast. It would keep 108 hectares, including 20 hectares on a freehold basis and the rest on a 99-year lease. Sri Lanka would own the rights to the other 125 hectares.
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