Posted on 05/21/2021 4:46:50 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Thursday passed a law installing a powerful economic commission to administer a huge Chinese luxury oceanside development after altering elements of the bill ruled unconstitutional by the country’s top court.
The bill to create the Colombo Port City Economic Commission passed with a 149-58 vote in Sri Lanka’s 225-member Parliament.
The CHEC Port City Colombo company, a unit of China Communications Construction Company, invested $1.4 billion for reclamation of land and construction of infrastructure adjacent to the Port of Colombo.
In return, it obtained the right to use 62 hectares (153 acres) of marketable land on a 99-year lease from the Sri Lankan government, according to the project’s website. The planned project includes an integrated resort and casino and conference center zone, a marina, residential developments, a financial zone and green spaces.
The project has raised concerns in Sri Lanka and neighboring India that the development could become a virtual Chinese outpost or colony.
Sri Lanka’s government sees the project as a lifeline for an economy hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
China has provided billions of dollars in loans for Sri Lankan projects over the past decade — including a seaport, airport, highways, power stations and the port city. But that debt has deepened Sri Lanka’s debt burden.
Sri Lanka leased a Chinese-built port in the city of Hambantota, which is near the world’s busiest east-west shipping route, to a Chinese firm in 2017 for 99 years in a bid to recover from the heavy burden of repaying a loan the country took to build the facility.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Hey, the ChiComs just bought Sri Lanka!
Funny thing is with India left twisting by Sleepy Joe on COVID, the PLAN doesn’t even real need the Indian Ocean port anymore (but they’ll take it anyway, of course).
“The project has raised concerns in Sri Lanka and neighboring India that the development could become a virtual Chinese outpost or colony.”
Yep. China is building navy ships at 5 times our ‘woke’ rate. What countries like Sri Lanka, and probably India, is going to find is that China will soon have the means to ENFORCE their 99-year (and similar) leases, along with any other contracts signed (and eventually won’t even bother with contracts).
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