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Port City’s Chinese chief and lawyers throw a few punches at Sri Lanka
An executive of Colombo Port City developer China Harbour Engineering and a lawyer for its parent company have rounded on the Sri Lankan Government in comments made to a Hong Kong newspaper, denouncing the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration for its ineptitude in handling the review of the project.
Jiang Houliang, managing director of CHEC Port City Colombo, has charged that Sri Lanka has messed up the approvals.
Jiang told the Friday edition of the South China Morning Post: “According to Schedule 2 of the concession agreement, the obligation to obtain all key applicable permits for the reclamation work lies with the government of Sri Lanka.”
The story does not explain the concession agreement Jiang is referring to. But it could be the agreement said to have been signed with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.
Jiang’s comments were in a story spread out over two half-pages on Friday March 20, titled, ‘Colombo Port City in the doldrums’.
An unnamed lawyer for Chinese government-owned China Communications Construction Co also goes on the offensive.
“Permits are issued by the government, so those should be in the government archives even if a new set of people are in charge. Why does the investor have to come up with the permits that the government issued?” the SCMP reported.
Another unnamed lawyer gives unsolicited counsel to the Sri Lankan Government on what it can and can not do.
“The government has every right to terminate a contract if it doesn’t fit its priorities, but if the contract is legally valid, it would have to compensate the investor. The government can’t terminate the contract based on its own breach, it can only do so if the breach took place on the part of the investor,” said another lawyer working on the case who also did not want to be identified, the SCMP reported.
The SCMP cites sources from China Harbour Engineering as saying that the company had submitted all documents well in advance of the government deadline.
“We submitted all permits and approvals to the secretary of port, shipping and aviation on March 9, after receiving the suspension letter on March 6. We haven’t received any feedback from the government,” said a CHEC executive who did not want to be named, the SCMP reported.
The story also regurgitates the Chinese company’s line that the project is undertaken with its own capital. “It is financed entirely by equity from CCCC or funds raised through it, with no commitment from the Sri Lankan government,” the report says.
But it is not clear why the Chinese company is claiming that Sri Lanka has no stake in the project which is built on its own shores with its own resources such as boulders and mountains of sand to start with. Besides, Sri Lanka has granted a 25-year tax-free deal, including tax-free dividends, to the Chinese builder, those these have now been cancelled.