Port City more interested in real estate developers outside of China

• Focused on attracting investors from Middle East, East Asian and selected Western countries
• Land to be available for development end of this year

 Colombo Port City Developer, CHEC Port City Colombo is actively avoiding attracting Chinese investors for property development in 269 hectares of the reclaimed land adjacent the country’s commercial hub.

Liang Thow Ming, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of CHEC Port City Colombo, a fully-owned subsidiary of China Communication and Construction Company, said that the company has been focusing on the Middle East, South East Asia and selected Western countries.

“We want to balance it by projecting a very international investment portfolio,” Liang told journalists at an event organised yesterday to re-launch the company website. “It was an initiative that we took on our own,” Liang explained.  

Projected to be the financial hub of the region, the phase one of the project will be completed by 2020, where a total of 3 million square meters will be added to the real estate market, Liang said. The total project will add 5.65 million square meters at the end of the project period of 30 years.

According to Liang is targeting for the land to be ready for the developers by the end of this year.

To ensure compliance with construction and infrastructure features outlined in the master plan of the Port City, the company is now in the process of developing the Development Control Regulation which includes certain clauses to control construction, CHEC Port City Colombo Planning and Development Director Lim Kian Siew said.

“This means that if you are interested in a certain plot of land you already have all the requirements outlined, from tower height to what type of development you can do, and what are the requirements you need to comply including the infrastructure connections such as where do you connect and how do you connect,” Lim explained.