Monday, August 26, 2019

Business forum on belt and road initiative

Head panel

The Sri Lanka China Business Co-operation Council celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and to celebrate this important milestone has planned out two celebratory events to be held during the course of 2019.

The first event was held on August 21 and took the form of a business forum showcasing the belt and road initiative(BRI) and the port city project. The BRI segment consist of Mangala Yapa, Chairman, BOI, Tissa Wickremasinghe, Chief Operating Officer, Hambantota, International Port Group, Subhashini Abeysinghe, Research Director, Verite Research, Dhiren Hallock, Chairman / MD, DRH Logistics, . Nisthar Cassim - Moderator.

The panel members on the BRI detailed the scope of this landmark initiative which links the Chinese mainland through sea and road links to countries in Asia, Europe and the mid east.Its plan is to improve connectivity and facilitate easier trade and commodity movements globally and in the course of time also facilitate economic development of the countries Linked through this initiative.

The Hambantota Port and the Colombo Port City development are major constituents of the BRI from Sri Lanka’s perspective and are expected to radically change the economic and Geographical landscape of the country if everything goes to plan.The Colombo Port City presentation was handled by Simon Tham.

The total area reclaimed from the sea would be 279 Ha which is more than the area of The Marina Bay development in Singapore.Currently, all land reclaim work is completed and work related to infrastructure is in progress.

The new city would have areas earmarked for Living spaces, Recreation, Commercial space and a financial and commercial centre and the next challenge in the context of the current Economic and political context is to attract the right investors to the location.

The SLCBCC hopes to play a role in facilitating a role in attracting investors into the Port City.The current President of the SLCBCC is Lucien Pereira supported by an Executive Committee of nineteen members.

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