RAVI WELCOMES INDIAN INVESTMENT IN COLOMBO PORT

DEFENDS SL DECISION TO JOIN CHINA’S OBOR INITIATIVE

India will be one of the key users of the ECT as it is the country closest to it

Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake, who visited India a few days ago, has said Sri Lanka welcomed investments from India and Japan and Indian investment in the Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) of the Colombo Port.

According to Indian media reports, he told a group of journalists in New Delhi on Wednesday that Sri Lanka wants to make the ECT a viable project. .

“India will be one of key users of the ECT as it is closest to it. The project has been opened for bidding,” he said.

India has shown interest in the East Terminal and Colombo Port. Seventy-five per cent of the transshipment goes to India and Delhi is looking at getting a stake in the Colombo port. The total project value is likely to be about US$550-600 million. The South Terminal of the Colombo port is already owned and operated by the China Merchant Holdings (International)

The state-run Container Corporation of India (Concor) has formed a consortium with APM Terminals B V, John Keells Holdings and Maersk Line to bid for the development of the East Container Terminal in Colombo.

The total project value is likely to be about US$550600 million. The South Terminal of the Colombo port is already owned and operated by the China Merchant Holdings (International).

Meanwhile, the minister has defended Sri Lanka’s move to join China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) infrastructure initiative, stating that it was a considered decision taken on the basis of its foreign policy.

He said India had discussed the subject of Sri Lanka joining the OBOR project with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“We are a small country and our foreign policy is to be friends with all and enemies with none,” the minister said and added that Sri Lanka has been a key location on international shipping routes that have been criss-crossing from the east to the west for several hundreds of years and joining OBOR was a natural consequence of this.

China’s OBOR project aims to put billions of dollars into infrastructure projects including railways, ports and power grids across Asia, Africa and Europe.

The minister returned to Sri Lanka on Wednesday.