Sri Lanka’s inaugurates second highway, 'made in China '
Colombo (
AsiaNews ) - The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday inaugurated
the country's second highway, built thanks to a China's massive investment. The
ceremony was attended by ministers and officials of the Chinese embassy in
Colombo. Costing
$ 291 million , the Colombo- Katunayake Expressway will improve traffic flow
between the two cities , reducing transit times by 20 minutes. The
highway also leads to the international airport of Bandaranayaike and has four
interchanges: at Peliyagoda , Kerawalapitiya , Jael and Katunayake . As
of 6pm yesterday - the official opening - the government has already earned 2.3
million rupees (about 12,700 Euros ), thanks to the motorway tolls .
Sri
Lanka organized a number of initiatives to celebrate the opening of the
highway, including bicycle races and concerts. For
the first time the country also hosted an elephant race.
Beijing
funded the highway with a loan from the China
Export Import Bank ( Exim ) . Construction
began in August 2009 (a few months after the end of the Civil War , ed) and the
opening was scheduled for last July. However
, Colombo decided to postpone the opening to October 27 , closer to the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting ( CHOGM) , which will be held in Sri
Lanka in November.
As
soon as the thirty-year ethnic conflict ended, China emerged as a major donor
and investor in the island, with loans of $ 1.2 billion in 2009 and 821 million
dollars in 2010 . In
2011, the "contribution" fell to 784.7 million dollars, but the Asian
giant remains Sri Lanka's largest trading partner, with investments in almost
all major projects currently in progress according to the data of the Sri Lankan
Ministry of Finance.
These
project include the construction of a coal fired power station in the north-
west ($ 1.3 billion) and more infrastructure in the south of the country for a
total value of $ 4 billion . Among them, a port (1.2
billion dollars).
China
is also one of the financiers of the Southern Expressway, Sri Lanka's first
highway opened in 2011.
17/06/2023 15:40
28/06/2022 15:57