By P.K.Balachandran

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s three-day visit to China beginning on Wednesday, is aimed at putting Lanka on a new economic trajectory with new systems in place to revive the ailing mega projects of the Rajapaksa era and to make the proposed US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City an international business hub with its own financial and other laws.

The difference between the Rajapaksa regime and the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is that while the former simply got the Chinese to put up infrastructural facilities with money loaned by them, without a thought for their economic viability, the present government wants China to ‘invest’ there to make them money spinners for Lanka.

Colombo now wants FDIs, not loans. This approach will also help it pay back the huge Chinese loans taken at high interest by the Rajapaksa regime.

To ensure the viability of the US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City, which is to be built by the Chinese, it will be given the right to have separate financial and other laws to help it attract foreign investment and function as an international business hub, Wickremesinghe told the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The Lankan PM is to discuss with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, FDIs to revive the idling Humbantota Port and Mattala Airport built by the Rajapaksa government at great cost and with huge loans at high interest rates from China.

Courtesy:New Indian Express