{"id":166336,"date":"2016-08-12T21:31:22","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T16:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=166336"},"modified":"2016-08-12T21:31:22","modified_gmt":"2016-08-12T16:01:22","slug":"colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City"},"content":{"rendered":"

The much hyped Colombo Port City<\/span><\/a> has been renamed as the Colombo International Financial City. A tripartite agreement was signed today by the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry, together with the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and the CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt.) Ltd.<\/p>\n

\"Champika<\/a>

Champika Ranawaka – Minister Megapolis and Western Development<\/p><\/div>\n

The agreement allows CHEC to re-commence construction work of the project which was originally mooted by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and later suspend by under the President Maithripala Maithripala Sirisena \u2013 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe led government citing environment concerns and procedural irregularities. During the run up to the Presidential Election in 2015, Wickremesinghe vowed to scrap the project if they came to power.<\/p>\n

The new agreement which replaced the old agreement signed during Rajapaksa\u2019s term, also allocated a further two hectares for the project in place of the US $ 125 million compensation claim made by CHEC as loss due to the government\u2019s decision to suspend the project last year.<\/p>\n

The Yahapalanaya government has coined a new name for the project although the concept remains the same. The project will be utilized to develop Colombo in to a financial hub and attract foreign investments from South Asia, Middle East and Europe.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe will leave for China tomorrow on an official tour. This is his second visit since April this year.<\/p>\n

The US $1.4 billion China-funded project was originally to be built on 233 hectares (576 acres) of reclaimed land \u2014 an area slightly larger than Monaco \u2014 and was to attract local and international investments for shopping malls, hotels, apartments, an exhibition center, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, theme parks, and restaurants, among others. When the project was suspended in March 2015, construction work was already underway, after it was inaugurated in September 2014 in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

The original estimate was that the project would generate 83,000 local jobs and attract international investments to the tune of US $ 13 billion when the project is fully completed.<\/p>\n

Just weeks after Wickremesinghe gave the green light for the project, the People\u2019s Movement Against the Port City criticized Wickremesinghe for his change in policy against the controversial port city project. \u201cIt is very unfortunate that Mr. Wickremesinghe, now as the Prime Minister of the Government of \u2018Good Governance\u2019, is not only acting against his own words but also against the promise that he made to millions of people who voted him to power trusting his pledge,\u201d the movement said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Although the Yahapalanaya Government under Sirisena and Wickremesinghe adopted an indifferent attitude towards China after coming to power, their failure to bring in considerable foreign investments to the country eventually resulted in them limping back to China and following in Rajapaksa\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

During several high level meets, China had also warned the Sri Lankan government against antagonizing them and against blocking Chinese funded projects in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":100340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nColombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-12T16:01:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"412\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"547\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-12T16:01:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg\",\"width\":\"412\",\"height\":\"547\",\"caption\":\"\u0db4\u0dcf\u0da8\u0dbd\u0dd3 \u0da0\u0db8\u0dca\u0db4\u0dd2\u0d9a \u0dbb\u0dab\u0dc0\u0d9a\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Colombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Colombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Colombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2016-08-12T16:01:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":412,"height":547,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/","name":"Colombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-12T16:01:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg","width":"412","height":"547","caption":"\u0db4\u0dcf\u0da8\u0dbd\u0dd3 \u0da0\u0db8\u0dca\u0db4\u0dd2\u0d9a \u0dbb\u0dab\u0dc0\u0d9a"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/colombo-port-city-becomes-colombo-international-financial-city\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Colombo Port City Becomes Colombo International Financial City"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Champika.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166336"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166338,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166336\/revisions\/166338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}