Construction work on the mega Colombo Port City Development Project commenced yesterday under the patronage of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT).

The event was held with pomp and pageantry with the participation of the two presidents amid a cultural performance by Kandyan dancers and drum beaters with focus on confidence, dedication, national unity, patriotism, nationalism, peace, national responsibility, culture and awareness of national history in the minds of the people.

The ceremony commenced with the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping at 9 a.m. He was received by President Rajapaksa and other political heads. The Chinese President was later accompanied to the CICT main building, to view a miniature structure of proposed Port City. Both Presidents jointly unveiled the plaque of the project amidst the beating of Magul Bera and blowing of conch shells. Then they officially commenced the construction of the mega Colombo Port City Development Project by cutting a ribbon. Parallel to this, sand filling of the sea area began by a ship.

Considering several feasibility studies carried out, it has been identified that Colombo city, which is the major economic centre should be developed as a modern city with all facilities parallel to the overall rapid development drives. However, land limitation of the Colombo City has become a limiting factor when carrying out such a development drive and as it is difficult to find a huge land area within the city limits, it was proposed to add an additional land area to Colombo city by reclaiming the sea as a remedy and develop it as a new city. It was apparent that prominence should be given to the Port City, which will be constructed by reclaiming the sea to enable city expansion thus uplifting Colombo city as a modern international city. The Colombo Port City Project, which covers 233 hectares has been planned for two stages and will be completed in eight years . The total land area for the project is 233 hectares and that area will totally be reclaimed from the sea. The proposed area will include all related facilities such as access roads, electricity, communication and all other infrastructure facilities together with landscaping constructions including lakes. The significant feature of the project is it changes the geography of the country and outlook of Colombo with the inclusion of 233 hectares added to the Sri Lankan map. Besides, the project extends immense strength to the government’s efforts to ensure continuity and dedication towards realizing the goal of making Sri Lanka, the most competitive and preferred maritime and logistics hub in the Asian region. The work on the breakwater for the project commenced last October with a total investment of USD 15 billion.

Not less than 233 hectares of sea bed will be reclaimed by the project, which is implemented by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka. Of this, 170 hectares have been identified as an area that can be developed and the rest of the 63 hectares have been allocated for common facilities such as water area, roads and parks. An extent of 108 hectares from this reclaimed land is to be reserved for the company selected for this project, China Communications Constructions Company (CCCC), to cover its investment costs, marketing promotions costs and profits. The project proponent CCCC invests US $ 1,337 million as the total construction expenditure.

From the extent of land thus reserved, some 20 hectares will be on free hold right basis and the balance 88 hectares on a 99 year lease basis. It is expected that around bout US $ 20 billion investment will be made in the second stage of the project within a period of 20 years. The entire construction will be carried out by the China Harbour Engineering Company.

The remaining 125 hectares of this reclaimed land will be under the purview of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). The estimated cost of US$ 1.4 billion for the first phase of this project is to be invested by CCCC. Sri Lanka and China in recent years have developed increasingly closer economic and trade relations and a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries will boost Sri Lanka’s future development.