Port City Project to be suspended till environmental, economic and security issues are resolved
Reclamation work at the Port City project is to be suspended till the environmental, economic and security issues concerning the project are resolved, Minister of Investment Promotion Kabir Hashim revealed.
He said that the government will re-examine the agreement with China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC), a partnership of the China Communication Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC) to develop the Colombo Port City Project.
The first phase of the project includes reclamation, breakwater construction, connected road network and supply of services.
Mr. Hashim added that the Ports Authority has no mandate to enter into an agreement with the Chinese company to implement the project.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was done by the Ports Authority and approved by the Department of Coast Conservation, which is only the project approval agency without the concurrent approval of the Central Environment Authority (CEA), Chairman of Central Environmental Authority (CEA), Prof. Lal Mervin Dharmasiri told the Business Times.
Under Section 16 of the CCA it is required for an Environmental Impact Assessment to be conducted before the commencement of a project in the coastal zone. An EIA should be carried out for projects that may produce significant environmental impacts.The CEA has no mandate to conduct the EIA beyond 2 km of the coast line and the authority for this purpose is the Department of Coast Conservation, he said adding the report should be endorsed by the CEA.
This practice was not followed in conducting the EIA and the Chinese company cannot continue the reclamation work as the new government’s high powered committee is reviewing the whole project, official sources said.
The CEA has approved the extraction of sand for this project beyond 2 km of the coast line.
The Chinese company responsible for the construction of the project said that the construction is getting underway as planned.
In 2010 an initial Technical Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Project was performed by the University of Moratuwa, under the directive of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Managing Director of CHEC Jiang Houliang said.The Technical Feasibility Study was subsequently approved by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Environmental Impact Assessment was published for the public’s benefit. Once public inquiries were answered, the Environmental Impact Assessment was approved by government approved agencies, he added.
The Port City is to be built an area of 233 hectares up to the Galle Face Green through land reclamation from the sea. One hundred and seventy (170) hectares of this area has been identified as that which could be developed.
Of this, 63 hectares has been excluded for public facilities such as waterways, pathways and parks.
This also includes luxury hotels, housing schemes, shopping facilities, docks and cycling paths.