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COLOMBO: A Chinese state-owned firm mentioned on Monday it plans to take its funding in Sri Lanka to $2 billion by constructing a major logistics hub.
Sri Lanka is wanting to kickstart its financial restoration after defaulting on its overseas debt final yr, when shortages of necessities corresponding to meals, gasoline and medicines sparked widespread anti-authorities protests.
The funding by the China Merchants Group in a big logistics complex at Colombo Port, with an estimated development value of $392 million, is the primary major overseas funding in Sri Lanka because the default.
The logistics centre undertaking will take CMG‘s “accumulated investment in Sri Lanka to… over 2 billion US dollars, making it the largest foreign investment enterprise in the island”, the corporate mentioned in a press release on Monday.
CMG can have a 70 p.c stake within the firm arrange to build the logistics complex at Colombo, the one deep-sea port between Dubai and Singapore.
Describing the undertaking as South Asia’s largest logistics hub, CMG mentioned it expects to full it by the top of 2025.
CMG additionally manages the port complex at Hambantota on the southern tip of Sri Lanka.
That port was thought of among the many white-elephant initiatives launched by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who dominated the nation for a decade till 2015.
Rajapaksa borrowed closely from China for initiatives that many criticised as a debt lure that led to the worst financial disaster in Sri Lanka’s historical past.
Unable to repay an enormous mortgage taken from China in 2017 to build Hambantota port, Sri Lanka handed it over to CMG for $1.12 billion on a 99-year lease.
China has loaned billions for initiatives in Asia, Africa and Europe below its gargantuan Belt and Road Initiative, which critics say is saddling nations with debt.
Neighbouring India in addition to the United States have additionally expressed concern about China gaining a naval benefit within the Indian Ocean with its entry to Sri Lanka’s ports.
Sri Lanka has insisted that its ports won’t be used for any navy functions.
Sri Lanka is wanting to kickstart its financial restoration after defaulting on its overseas debt final yr, when shortages of necessities corresponding to meals, gasoline and medicines sparked widespread anti-authorities protests.
The funding by the China Merchants Group in a big logistics complex at Colombo Port, with an estimated development value of $392 million, is the primary major overseas funding in Sri Lanka because the default.
The logistics centre undertaking will take CMG‘s “accumulated investment in Sri Lanka to… over 2 billion US dollars, making it the largest foreign investment enterprise in the island”, the corporate mentioned in a press release on Monday.
CMG can have a 70 p.c stake within the firm arrange to build the logistics complex at Colombo, the one deep-sea port between Dubai and Singapore.
Describing the undertaking as South Asia’s largest logistics hub, CMG mentioned it expects to full it by the top of 2025.
CMG additionally manages the port complex at Hambantota on the southern tip of Sri Lanka.
That port was thought of among the many white-elephant initiatives launched by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who dominated the nation for a decade till 2015.
Rajapaksa borrowed closely from China for initiatives that many criticised as a debt lure that led to the worst financial disaster in Sri Lanka’s historical past.
Unable to repay an enormous mortgage taken from China in 2017 to build Hambantota port, Sri Lanka handed it over to CMG for $1.12 billion on a 99-year lease.
China has loaned billions for initiatives in Asia, Africa and Europe below its gargantuan Belt and Road Initiative, which critics say is saddling nations with debt.
Neighbouring India in addition to the United States have additionally expressed concern about China gaining a naval benefit within the Indian Ocean with its entry to Sri Lanka’s ports.
Sri Lanka has insisted that its ports won’t be used for any navy functions.
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