By: RadhakrishnaNS
In a latest hurdle to China’s ambition to expand its grip on Sri Lanka, country’s opposition parties, civil society groups and labour unions have filed multiple petitions in the top court against a proposed controversial legislation on the China-backed $1.4 billion Port City in Colombo.
The petition has alleged that it violated the country’s sovereignty, the Constitution and labour rights.
The bill titled the Colombo Port City Economic Commission was gazetted on March 23 and the ruling Rajapaksa administration tabled it in Parliament last week.
The bill aims to provide for “a special economic zone to establish a commission to grant registrations, licenses, authorisations and other approvals to operate business in such economic zones,” according to the government.
Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya has appointed a 5-member bench of the highest court to hear petitions next week, officials said.
The port city, a pet Chinese project of the administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and touted by the government as an investment hub for foreign capital, commenced in 2014 to build a financial centre on reclaimed sea land in extent little less than 3 kilometres at Galle Face seafront in the heart of Colombo.
The project was suspended in 2015 with Rajapaksa’s defeat and was revived by the successor Maithripala Sirisena’s government after a pause. It was completed in 2018.
