Sri Lanka Okays Construction on Stalled Chinese Port Project
Sri Lankan government has approved the construction of a breakwater for a Chinese funded Colombo port city project which had been suspended by the government earlier this month.
The decision was taken, following a request made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, when the cabinet convened for its weekly meeting Wednesday evening, informs Cabinet Spokesperson and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne.
Colombo port city is Sri Lanka’s biggest foreign-financed $1.4 billion project is to reclaim land from the sea and build fancy houses on it. The 3.25 km long breakwater, an offshore barrier which protects the city from the full impact of waves.
The state-owned China Communications Construction Company won the contract from the ports ministry, run by the then president, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The entire project had been suspended by the new government which took office in January after concerns were raised over some aspects of the project.
The project is a headache partly because geopolitics is at play. India dislikes China holding land near Colombo’s port, a trans-shipment hub for Indian cargo. It has become a test of how far the new government can turn its back on the Rajapaksa era and how skillfully it can steer its foreign policy between Asia’s two giants, China and India.