Port City project to improve coastal protection and a boon to the environment: VP China Communications Construction Company  

The Port City Project is said to improve coastal protection and be a boon to the environment -Sun Ziyu, vice president of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

Sun said the reclamation work had helped transform the area’s coastline which was previously hit by strong winds blowing towards the Indian Ocean that made it less livable.

China is building a new city along Colombo’s coastline that will become the city’s central business district by 2030, creating 80,000 jobs for Sri Lankans, under the mainland’s “Belt and Road Initiative”.

China’s “Belt and Road” plan comprises a belt of overland corridors and sea routes connecting Asia, Africa and Europe through building infrastructure and boosting financial and trade ties for over 60 countries that lie along the routes, the publication reported.

With an initial investment of US$1.4 billion, Colombo Port City is China’s biggest project in Sri Lanka, a key node along the Maritime Silk Road of the Belt and Road plan.

Sun said the development within Sri Lanka’s biggest commercial city, which will be built on 269 hectares of reclaimed land, would accommodate 200,000 residents and consists of apartments, hotels, offices, shopping malls, exhibition centres, as well as provide 80,000 new jobs. It is expected to be completed by 2030.

In 2016 alone, Chinese firms signed new construction projects worth a total contractual value of US$126 billion. CCCC accounted for one-tenth, or US$12.6 billion of the projects.

t has participated in more than 300 Belt and Road projects across 58 countries. Key projects include the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Zemun-Borca Bridge in Serbia and the North-South Highway in Jamaica, with value totaling US$47 billion.

Even with numerous years of overseas experience behind them, Sun said each investment decision was made on repeated verification on multiple fronts of the prospects – from local culture, regulatory policies to environmental issues, as well as soliciting advice from world-class experts. The most important measurement is, the project must benefit local society, he said.

“Making profit is important, but if you only consider making money, you will finally lose it. Benefiting others, you will benefit at the end,” Sun told the publication