Port City motors on despite concerns
Work on the Colombo Port City is moving ahead at an accelerated pace despite concerns raised by some environmentalists. According to the Port City, over 72 percent of the reclamation work for the project has been completed.
The Port City is now looking for a new name and advertisements have been published where a name can be nominated and the winning entry will receive Rs. 100,000.
A total of around 269 hectares of sea is being filled by a Chinese company to create the new city and part of it will be developed by the Government and the rest by the Chinese company.
Once the reclamation work is over the President will declare the new land as part of Sri Lanka and as a special urban development area. The Prime Minister’s office is at present working on the legal system which will apply to the new property which will be part of the Port City.
Agreements were signed recently to construct the Colombo International Finance City (CIFC) Building Complex on the reclaimed land of the Colombo Port City Development Project and the Underground Marine Drive Tunnel – with the Cabinet giving its approval in principle – connecting the airport highway and Marine Drive in Kollupitiya.
The completion of the reclamation and the construction of the breakwater will be done by June 2019. The Chinese investment company indicated its willingness to invest a further $ 1 billion in the construction of the first building complex on reclaimed land.
According to the provisions agreed in the tripartite agreement, the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development made a request to the project company to look into the possibility of making a further investment on a BOT basis to connect the elevated airport highway from Chaithya at the A1 Gate of the Colombo Harbour to Marine Drive in Kollupitiya.
Environmental groups had recently warned that the Port City would increase air pollution in Colombo by 30 times the globally accepted standard.
During a seminar titled ‘The Colombo Port City – The Hidden Truth’ecologist DrRanilSenanayake was reported in the media as saying that Fine Particles PM 2.5 would reach levels 25 to 30 times higher than what is internationally accepted.
However the Port City management denied the allegations and insisted that the project met environmental regulations.
The Port City project management said that the project is being carried out after a detailed environmental impact assessment.
The management said that the project is carried out in a completely sustainable manner at distances of over 7km from the shoreline, and at depths of 15 m or more. The Port City project management assured that the dredging has no impact on coastal erosion or fisher livelihoods.
The Colombo Port City project, which will reclaim some 2.7 square kilometres of land, on which will sit flats, offices, shopping centres, hotels and exhibition centres, is expected to be completed by 2030.
The new Sri Lankan administration suspended the Port City project for a year while it re-examined most accords that had been signed by the previous administration.
China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) had complained of hefty losses because of the work stoppage.
However once the project was given approval to resume the issues over the project were resolved and the project is now moving forward at an accelerated pace.
Pictures by EaswaranRutnam