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Port City:
A venture open to all
The Port City is not a Sri Lanka-China venture as it will be open to
everyone and several Indian investors too have expressed their
willingness to invest in the Port City, said Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe. He was speaking to journalists at the China World Hotel
in Beijing. He also said there would be no security issues as far as the
Colombo Port City was concerned.
"We have discussed the issue with the Indian government and have
addressed security concerns of India, we will discuss this matter
further," the Prime Minister said.
Answering questions by journalists he said Sri Lanka will not permit
a third party to be a threat to any other country or any country in the
SARRC region.
The Prime Minister also stressed that China had not asked for any
military base in Sri Lanka. He said China's military presence in the
Indian Ocean was purely to carry out anti-piracy operations. So are
India, Australia and other major countries, he said.
Emphasising the importance of maritime security, the Premier said
China had offered a patrol craft while India had also offered two craft
to the Navy to carry out maritime surveillance.
"It's a joint venture, where there will be a Chinese company and a
Sri Lankan company and we want to put forty percent to the stock market
and are open for Indian companies to invest. We want to make it an Asian
area and they can even go up to the European Union. From what I have
discussed I am convinced that the Indian investors are interested in
investing and they could own land in the Port City. We would go to
India, Pakistan Bangladesh, Middle East and East Africa seeking
investments" he said.
Referring to the development in Hambantota, the Prime Minister said
it is not limited only to China and Sri Lanka.
He also said Sri Lanka we will operate the Mattala Airport and the
Hambantota Port in such a way that the government will play the role of
a regulator while having a stake in the two ventures, indicating that
there would be equity partnership in these projects.
He also said the Galle naval base would be shifted to Hambantota,
while the Coast Guard will take over the Galle Port. |
