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Saturday, 25 April 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Deputy Minister of Investment Promotion Eran Wickramaratne
By Dharisha Bastians The final decision on whether the controversial Colombo Port City project will go ahead will only be made after the Cabinet appointed sub-committee delivers its final assessment reports, top Government officials said yesterday. Deputy Minister of Investment Promotion Eran Wickramaratne told journalists in Colombo yesterday, that there were “complex problems” with the Colombo Port City project, including the question of land sovereignty over some areas of the property. However, he noted that most of the problems could be resolved through negotiations. “We remain open to discussions with any parties involved in the project; we are looking at this with an open mind,” the Deputy Minister said. Discussions had taken place at all levels about the project, including engagement with Chinese diplomats, Wickramaratne said. “There is definitely a big problem with regard to the environment,” the Deputy Minister said, because the project had been commenced with an incomplete Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) mandatory for large-scale development projects in the island. The EIA involved the study of 500 acres, but an assessment of impact for the entire area had not been conducted, Wickramaratne told a media conference. “Ultimately the decision on whether or not the Colombo Port City project is feasible will not be a political decision. It will be a decision made by environmental experts,” the Deputy Minister explained. There were even recommendations that international experts needed to be called in to assess the impact to Sri Lanka’s Western coastline, he claimed. “This is going to take time. Once all the assessments are done and if the impact on the environment is going to be too great, the project will have to be stopped,” Wickramaratne asserted. Despite claims by the Chinese company constructing the Port City that the daily costs incurred by the project’s suspension was about $ 380,000 per day, the Deputy Minister said there were several reasons for suspending construction. “The former Government made a lot of decisions – and some of them were the wrong decisions. With an incomplete EIA, the costs to Sri Lanka in the long run would be much higher,” Wickramaratne asserted. The Government was cognisant of the problems the project’s suspension had created, including the costs, he noted. “If there are going to be disputes, there are dispute resolution mechanisms that can be used to deal with that,” Wickramaratne said. No final decision will be made until the Cabinet sub-committee presents its final report. “An investigation is underway. We have not called for an interim report on those findings. But this project is being reviewed by the Sri Lankan Government financially, socially, economically, environmentally and also legally. We have to be satisfied, this is our assessment,” he explained. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ajith P. Perera, who was also in attendance at the press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, said the subject of the Port City Project had never come up in the discussions during President Maithripala Sirisena’s recent visit to Beijing.
