A tipper truck unloads rocks as part of a process to reclaim the sea front next to an excavator at "Colombo Port City" construction site, backed by Chinese investment, is seen in Sri Lanka
A tipper truck unloads rocks as part of a process to reclaim the sea front next to an excavator at "Colombo Port City" construction site, backed by Chinese investment, is seen in Sri Lanka April 7, 2016. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/Files

(From Reuters)

China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) has dropped its claim against the Sri Lankan government for $143 million in compensation for delaying the $1.4 billion Colombo Port City development, in return for getting additional land for the project, the government said on Tuesday.

A tipper truck unloads rocks as part of a process to reclaim the sea front next to an excavator at "Colombo Port City" construction site, backed by Chinese investment, is seen in Sri Lanka
A tipper truck unloads rocks as part of a process to reclaim the sea front next to an excavator at “Colombo Port City” construction site, backed by Chinese investment, in Sri Lanka April 7, 2016. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/Files

The news completes a U-turn on the Port City project on Colombo’s new waterfront by President Maithripala Sirisena’s administration, which had suspended the project in March last year because of concerns over the award of the contract to the Chinese construction giant by the previous government.

It will now award CCCC a minimum of 110 hectares of land out of a total 269 hectares that have been reclaimed from the sea in the commercial heart of the capital adjacent to the main port and the historic Galle Face Green.

The project is managed locally by CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, which signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) in September 2014 in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Read More

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