Port City project to create 83,000 jobs
Tripartite agreement:
CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd., the project company for the
Colombo Port City (CPC), signed a tripartite agreement with the Ministry
of Megapolis and Western Development, the Urban Development Authority on
Friday.
This agreement formally replaces the previous agreement signed on
September 16, 2014 between the Government and the Project Company.
The new tripartite agreement has been signed following the
announcement in March this year by the Government to lift the temporary
suspension of work on CPC, until the Ministry of Megapolis and Western
Development completed the Supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment
(SEIA). The SEIA was completed earlier this year, pursuant to a
Development Permit issued by the Coast Conservation Department to
recommence the project.
The temporary suspension of the project lasted over a year, during
which the Project Company fully co-operated with the Government to
address the various concerns raised, following the formation of a new
government after the Presidential Elections in January last year. The
SEIA and the new tripartite agreement have addressed all such concerns.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved this tripartite agreement and
authorised the signing of the agreement at the Cabinet meeting on August
9.
With this new agreement in place, the Project Company and the
Government share a common vision of making CPC; currently the single
largest private-sector development project in Sri Lanka, a success.
The project is envisioned to boost the economy alongside the
country’s existing development plans with state-of-the-art living,
working, public and recreational spaces in the new city, thus making it
a viable investment destination in South Asia.
The Project Company and the Government envisage creating
approximately 83,000 new employment opportunities within different
sectors, attracting over US$ 13 billion in Foreign Direct Investments
from investors and developers from countries including India, Singapore,
Malaysia and China while also increasing the number of tourists visiting
Sri Lanka within the next 20-30 years.
The Government hopes to develop an international financial and
business district in Sri Lanka within the Port City premises and
therefore, will rename the project ‘Colombo International Financial
City’.
The Project Company is fully supportive of this initiative and will
continue to cooperate with the Government in all operations, a commpany
spokesman said. |