With the completion of the US$ 1.9 billion Colombo Port City Development project, Sri Lanka handed over two-thirds of the new 269-hectare reclamation project, which is envisaged as the site of a new financial district, to China on a 99-year lease. At the ceremony, China’s ambassador Cheng Xueyuan said “Colombo Port City is an important project of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ in Sri Lanka, which is one of the key countries along the maritime silk route.” Patali Champika, the Minister in charge of the project, said however that the reclaimed area would not be a threat to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty or undermine the security of regional power India.
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