Prime Minister receives largest foreign currency cheque in 4 decades from China Merchant

Chinese group to manage and operate Hambantota Port Premier says the US$300 m will be used to develop Ruhuna into an industrial zone

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday received a cheque for US$ 300 million as an advance payment from the China Merchant Group Limited which will now manage and operate the Hambantota Port.

The ceremony to hand over the cheque was held at the parliament complex under the patronage of the premier. Several ministers, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianling and officials of the China Merchant Group attended the ceremony.

The US$ 300 million is considered to be the largest foreign inflow received after a lapse of four decades and the money will be deposited in a special fixed deposit account and will add to the country’s foreign reserves, the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister said the next project would be the establishment of the Ruhuna Industrial Development Corporation through which the Ruhuna area would be developed into an industrial zone and hundreds and hundreds of factories would be set up.

Among them will be an oil refinery, an LNG lands, a dockyard and cement fac- tory, he said.

"Negotiations have already started and the land for these projects will be identified by the Ruhunua Development Authority,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that the country is on its way to becoming the hub of the Indian Ocean.

"Sri Lanka is part of the modern maritime silk route. We have three ports, one in Colombo, one in the south in Hambantota and one in the east in Trincomalee."

The Prime Minister added that thousands of dollars will be received in the future. "This will release the people’s debt burden without leaving any burdens for the present and future generation as well. The intention of the government is to create a better country for the future generation which would enable them to move forward without any fear.”