Sri Lanka is considering a proposal by China Harbour Engineering Company to construct a shipbuilding and repair dockyard at Hambantota Port on the south coast.
A government spokesman, health minister Rajitha Senaratne, told reporters that the cabinet had approved CHEC’s plan to do a feasibility study for the project.
CHEC had requested the government give it 12 months to prepare a detailed plan and do the feasibility study, a proposal backed by ports and shipping minster Arjuna Ranatunga.
Ports ministry officials said CHEC proposed to also manage and operate the dockyard.
Hambantota Port, just off the main east-west shipping route across the Indian Ocean, was built by CHEC with a Chinese loan.
CHEC is also building the ‘Port City’ by reclaiming the sea off Colombo, a project suspended by the new government.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
