17 March 2016 06:17 pm
The Chinese funded Colombo Port City Project would not be carried out according to the original plan signed during the previous regime, but with certain amendments to make it environmentally viable, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said today.
“ We promised that the project would not be carried out according to the original plan and we had not gone back on our word,” the Minister said.
The Minister told a media briefing that the environmental approval had been obtained for the project.
He denied that the environment approval had only been given to reclaim the land from the sea and not for construction work “The media may have go to know something which we are not aware of ,” the Minister said responding to a question raised by the journalists.
“The approval had been given both for the filling of the sea and for the construction,” the Mr Karunanayake said.
The US $ 1.4 billion urban development project will cover 233 hectares of reclaimed land adjoining the Port of Colombo. The deal was initially signed between the Sri Lankan government and the China Communications Construction Ltd in November 2013 but it was suspended when the new government came into power in 2015 . However Cabinet nod was given to restart the work of the project last week.
Meanwhile, Mr. Karunanayake said the government would hand over the task of taking action against those who are responsible or putting the country into debt trap to the Supreme Courts and the Police. (Yohan Perera and Chaturanga Pradeep)
Video by Buddhi