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Sri Lanka
AsiaSouth Asia

Chinese state-owned firm to build major Sri Lanka port complex

  • The project, described as South Asia’s largest logistics hub, will take China Merchants Group’s investment in Sri Lanka to US$2 billion
  • The group will have a 70 per cent stake in the company set up to build the logistics complex at Colombo Port

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Representatives of Sri Lanka Ports Authority, a local civil engineering enterprise, and China Merchants Port Holdings at a signing ceremony of an agreement to jointly build a commercial and logistics hub at Colombo Port. Photo: Xinhua
Agence France-Presse
A Chinese state-owned firm said on Monday it planned to take its investment in Sri Lanka to US$2 billion by building a major logistics hub.
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Sri Lanka is looking to kick-start its economic recovery after defaulting on its foreign debt last year, when shortages of essentials such as food, fuel and medicines sparked widespread anti-government protests.

The investment by the China Merchants Group (CMG) in a large logistics complex at Colombo Port, with an estimated construction cost of US$392 million, is the first major foreign investment in Sri Lanka since the default.

A container vessel is being offloaded at Colombo Port. Photo: AFP
A container vessel is being offloaded at Colombo Port. Photo: AFP

The logistics centre project will take CMG’s “accumulated investment in Sri Lanka to … over 2 billion US dollars, making it the largest foreign investment enterprise in the island”, the company said in a statement on Monday.

CMG will have a 70 per cent stake in the company set up to build the logistics complex at Colombo, the only deep-sea port between Dubai and Singapore.

Describing the project as South Asia’s largest logistics hub, CMG said it expected to complete it by the end of 2025.

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CMG also manages the port complex at Hambantota on the southern tip of Sri Lanka.

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