Colombo Port City ‘Not a Threat’

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister for Sri Lanka has said that China’s ‘Colombo Port City’ project is not a threat to the country, according to Channel News Asia.

Ranil Wickremesinghe said: “The Port City is not a threat to anyone; it's an opportunity for everyone to make money. The Chinese have not asked for any military base in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka will not allow in any way the security of other countries to be threatened by third parties. Sri Lanka is committed to the freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean.”

The US$1.4 billion port city plan was first announced in 2014, with the intention of transforming the country’s coastline.

The port recently encountered delays, which have since been cleared, and the port city is anticipated to attract billions of dollars of investment once completed.

Investors have since been notified that the project can resume immediately, after encountering delays in both March, 2015 and February, 2016.

China’s move is said to be controversial, due to concerns that it is looking to prevent India from developing economically.

Despite this, India’s Gross Domestic Product growth is still expected to reach around 7% annually through to 2020.

'Indian trend GDP growth expected to average 7.5% annually through 2020,' says Carlyle. #MakeInIndia @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/0Rb2Fp1LpG

— Make in India (@makeinindia) April 12, 2016

PTI previously reported that India was looking compete with China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ strategy with the launch of ‘Project Mausam’ to revive economic, maritime and cultural ties between countries in the Indian Ocean.

China’s latest project involves plans to invest in 10 ports overseas in order to strengthen Silk Road ties and effectively drive its expansion strategy.