Lanka likely to re-start China funded port city project by early next year

The government is likely to give its nod to re-start a stalled multi billion dollars China funded port city project in the island nation by early next year, one top official of Sri Lankan government said. The official said that currently the Sri Lankan government was conducting high level discussions with the Chinese government over the status of the Chinese projects in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan government is likely to give its approval for the Port City project by February. The 1.4 billion U.S. dollars Colombo port city project funded by the China Communications Construction Company Limited was suspended by Sri Lanka government in March after concerns were raised over some aspects of the project. The construction of the project began in September last year and is set to attract billions of dollars as investments once completed. The official said that the necessary documents including the Environmental Management Plan have already been submitted to the Sri Lankan government and the documents are currently under review. "All the necessary documents have been submitted and the government is likely to start the project by February," the official said. Sri Lanka's Cabinet Spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne last month said that following a recommendation by Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, the cabinet had agreed to appoint a new committee to address the issues of the Port City project so that the project could continue. "We want to overcome these issues so that we can continue with the project. We hope to sort all these issues within the coming six months," Senaratne said. The new unity government has already stated that it hoped to include the Colombo Port City under its megalopolis development plan in order to develop capital Colombo. (Xinhua)