Sri Lanka approves $1.4 bln China-funded port city project

Sri Lanka's new government on Thursday greenlighted a 1.4-billion-US-dollar China-funded port city project, an official said Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka.

Ending speculation, the new cabinet, barely a month in office, allowed the project to continue after perusing an environmental assessment study done by a local university.

"We are satisfied with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) done by the Moratuwa University," Cabinet spokesman and Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne told reporters, adding a second EIA would be needed to assess construction once reclaiming land from the sea is completed.

"There is time for that," he said.

China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) subsidiary China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) is handling the construction of the port city, which was started during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's tenure.

Sri Lanka's new President Maithripala Sirisena, who took office last month after beating the former president in election, appointed a 27-member cabinet headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who had earlier warned the port city would be scrapped if it failed to meet environmental standards.

The port city will also have Sri Lanka's first 100-story skyscraper under Phase II of its work. This phase would include the construction of hotels, shopping malls, a golf course as well as an F1 track.

The site is on 233 hectares of reclaimed land along the iconic coastline of Colombo.