As a shining metropolis soars out of the water along the Sri Lanka seashore, officials describe this newly developed Colombo Port City as an “economic gamechanger” that would even give Indian entrepreneurs an opportunity to invest in the global market.
Colombo Port City Economic Commission director-general Saliya Wickramasuriya said in an interview that the project will offer opportunities to Indian players because for us the Indian subcontinent is our largest target market,
Port City, is the huge expanse of sand reclaimed from the sea and is being transformed into a high-tech city. It will host an offshore international financial centre, residential areas and a marina - prompting comparisons with Dubai and Singapore.
“We do not want that comparison with Dubai and Singapore as they are well-entrenched global markets. We are the beginners and this Port City is an attempt to provide a global market,” says Wickramasuriya.
Strategically located at the epicentre of South Asia, Port City, Colombo offers access to a thriving region poised for future growth and development as a key link between Asia and the West. Building on the foundations of the rapidly growing Sri Lankan economy, this project will be a vibrant city; a financial centre that fosters a living, working and learning environment unmatched in the region.
“Port City is being envisioned to enhance Colombo Port’s status globally through the addition of financial and economic resources, with the final goal to transform the management of Sri Lanka in the long-term,” he said.
Being a planned integrated urban development and the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, the Master Plan was developed in consultation with SWECO of Sweden, Atkins of UK, and Suburna Jurong of Singapore. A Master Plan and Development Control Regulations (DCR) have been set out for all the 269 Ha of reclaimed land to provide development regulations on urban design, utilities, landscaping and sustainability.
Wickramasuriya said: “Port City would be a modern metropolis with state-of-the-art infrastructure, blessed with Sri Lanka’s tropical beauty supported by world-class administrative efficiencies provided at globally competitive process. Sri Lanka already enjoys a 70-80% cost advantage in the cost of doing business in comparison with Singapore and Dubai; this would be further enhanced within Port City.”
He said: Port City offers access to a thriving region poised for future growth and development as a key link between Asia and the West. The legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious, and trade relationships between India and Sri Lanka is more than 2500 years old, and we hope to continue the same. We invite Indian and global businesses to leverage the many investment incentives we have curated to enable enterprises to thrive and benefit from the state-of-the-art modern infrastructure embracing principle of sustainable developments.”
He said that there’s a lot of potentials for Indian businesses to move one step closer to the world by coming to Sri Lanka because a lot of Indian goods get trans-shipped through Sri Lanka...So, this is why we are offering an international financial centre concept in a convenient physical location for businesses that are in the goods and services movement business.
Laying emphasis that this is a Sri Lankan government project Yamuna Jayaratne, Director Sales and Marketing, Port City Colombo said that the entire 269 hectares of land is owned and by the Government of Sri Lanka – a sovereign project of national importance, governed by the Port City Economic Commission, a direct arm of the government of Sri Lanka.
“The commission act as the direct arm of the government. Port City is envisioned to be a modern metropolis city to be built on a master plan built by global experts providing residential, hospitality, financial and entertainment assets to be built within the Port City,” she said.
“Furthermore, Port City is Sri Lanka’s first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to help Sri Lanka positioned as South Asia’s largest multi-services hub including ICT, Financial Services, Logistics and other allied services based global organization invest in this extremely exciting investment proposition taking South Asia to the world,” she said.