China-Sri Lanka Cooperation: News & Discussions

[TaiShang]

China's drive for inclusive development continues unabated. Please do compare this with US's militarized and divisive foreign policy that brings death and destruction only.

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Three prominent China firms bid for Male-Hulhule bridge

Nov 11, 2015 - 03:28

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• Opening of Bids for China-Maldives Friendship Bridge ceremony. PHOTO/HOUSING MINISTRY
  

The bidders for the Malé-Hulhulé bridge project were three of China’s most prominent corporations in constructing overwater bridges, said deputy housing minister Abdulla Muthalib on Wednesday.

The bid opening ceremony for the project to build a bridge between Maldives’ capital Malé and island airport Hulhulé began Tuesday in Beijing, China, which was attended by a delegation from the Maldives’ housing ministry.

MALE, September 7, 2015:- The final design of the Male-Hulhule bridge that would connect the capital Male to the reclaimed suburb of Hulhumale and Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

Deputy Minister Muthalib reported that the three bidders were China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, CCCC Second Harbour Engineering Company, and Road and Bridge Construction.

The best bid of the three companies will be awarded the project at a ceremony held Saturday in China.

“These three companies are competent and experienced with the construction of overwater bridges. Their bids were submitted and opened in the presence of the Maldives’ delegation and Chinese authorities,” said Muthalib, from China.

The Malé-Hulhulé bridge (The China-Maldives Friendship Bridge):

• Length – 1.39 kilometres
• Length, including roads at both ends – 2 kilometres approx.
• Breadth – 20.3 metres
• No. of lanes for four-wheeled drives – 2
• No. of lanes for motorcycles – 2
• No. of lanes for bicycles – 1
• No. of lanes for pedestrians – 1

MALE, September 7, 2015:- The final design of the Male-Hulhule bridge that would connect the capital Male to the reclaimed suburb of Hulhumale and Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

According to the deputy minister, the report on the bridge’s feasibility had been received by China’s Ministry of Commerce, and subsequently evaluated by a team of experts handpicked from all over the country. The team had admitted that building the bridge would face numerous engineering challenges, said Muthalib.

While the bid for the project is set to be evaluated in two parts, the deputy minister stated that the project will be awarded to the best bid from the companies that passed the technical bids.

“The bid will be evaluated by a team of 11 experts randomly chosen from 600 experts across all of China. Members will include technical experts and cost experts.”

The report on the bid’s evaluation and its results will be handed over to the Maldives’ authorities on Friday. The two nations will sign the project awarding contract on Saturday.

MALE, September 7, 2015:- The final design of the Male-Hulhule bridge that would connect the capital Male to the reclaimed suburb of Hulhumale and Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

Muthalib revealed that a team from the contracting company will depart for Maldives afterwards for preparations to commence the project. A delegation from the Chinese government will also arrive in the Maldives to sign the financial documents.

The delegation from the Maldives’ government had met with China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Zhang Xiangchen to discuss the project. Vice Minister Zhang assured that the project will be underway before the end of this year, according to the schedule discussed.

The Maldives’ delegation had also met with the Director General of China’s Ministry of Commerce branch, the Bureau of International Economic Corporation, who is the overseer of all aspects of the bridge project.

“They discussed the progression of the project at the meeting, and delivered information on choosing the contractor and the plans for the project,” said Muthalib.

The estimated cost for the Malé-Hulhulé bridge project is USD 300 million. China has offered to give USD 100 million as free aid. Thirty percent of the remaining USD 200 million (USD 30 million) will be settled by the authorities, while China has agreed to loan the other USD 170 million with an interest rate of 2 percent.

Additionally, China also offered to complete the whole construction phase of the bridge and aid the Maldives in its operation.

MALE, September 7, 2015:- The final design of the Male-Hulhule bridge that would connect the capital Male to the reclaimed suburb of Hulhumale and Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

The project will be underway in December.

Designed as an over-water causeway connecting the Tsunami Monument region in Malé with the southern end of Hulhulé’s airport runway, the two-kilometre long bridge will have separate specialised lanes.

 

[TaiShang]

Sri Lanka likely to re-start China funded mega port city project by early next year


COLOMBO, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government is likely to give its nod to re-start a stalled multi billion dollars China funded port city project in the island nation by early next year, one top official of Sri Lankan government told Xinhua on Monday.

The official said that currently the Sri Lankan government was conducting high level discussions with the Chinese government over the status of the Chinese projects in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan government is likely to give its approval for the Port City project by February.

The 1.4 billion U.S. dollars Colombo port city project funded by the China Communications Construction Company Limited was suspended by Sri Lanka government in March after concerns were raised over some aspects of the project.

The construction of the project began in September last year and is set to attract billions of dollars as investments once completed.

The official said that the necessary documents including the Environmental Management Plan have already been submitted to the Sri Lankan government and the documents are currently under review.

"All the necessary documents have been submitted and the government is likely to start the project by February," the official said.

Sri Lanka's Cabinet Spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne last month said that following a recommendation by Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, the cabinet had agreed to appoint a new committee to address the issues of the Port City project so that the project could continue.

"We want to overcome these issues so that we can continue with the project. We hope to sort all these issues within the coming six months," Senaratne said.

The new unity government has already stated that it hoped to include the Colombo Port City under its megalopolis development plan in order to develop capital Colombo.

 

[Godman]

Government insists ties with China still strong | Colombo Gazette

The Government today insisted that Sri Lanka’s relationship with China still remains strong and an upcoming visit to Sri Lanka by a Chinese Government delegation will help further boost the relationship.

The Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs said that a Chinese delegation led by Yang Weiqun, director of the department of Asian affairs at the Chinese Commerce Ministry, will be in Sri Lanka on January 6.

The delegation will hold talks with the Deputy Minister of National Policy and Economic Affairs Niroshan Perera, among others, during the visit.

The Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs said that attempts are being made to give the impression Sri Lanka is focused only on maintaining a strong relationship with Europe.

However the media unit of the Ministry said that the foreign policy of the new Government is to maintain strong ties with all countries, including China.

Yang Weiqun and his delegation will have talks with Sri Lanka on the Colombo Port City project, the Hambantota harbour and the Colombo – Kandy highway project.

The Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs said the Chinese delegation will also inspect the Colombo Port City project site and the Hambantota harbour.

Talks between Sri Lanka and the Chinese delegation will also focus on investment opportunities and local politics. (Colombo Gazette)


China to ink FTA with Sri Lanka | Lanka Business Online


Dec 30, 2015 (LBO) – China will have discussions with Sri Lanka next year on a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in a bid to build stronger trade and investment ties, a foreign news report said.

Gao Hucheng, the Chinese Minister of Commerce was quoted on Chinese news agency Xinhua as saying that China will also step up negotiations next year on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, as well as the free trade agreement between China, South Korea and Japan.

Due to fast-growing manufacturing and service industries, China received 620 billion dollars in Foreign Direct Investment during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15), up 30 percent on the previous five-year plan. ODI grew 14.2 percent over the same period, the report said.

Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to improve regional connectivity between Asia, Europe and Africa and involves big-ticket infrastructure projects, has contributed to ODI growth this year.

The initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, includes the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and covers about 4.4 billion people in more than 60 countries and regions.

 

[TheTruth]

Ah, the problem of having a psycho neighbor like India

 

[Beast]

Its a one side thinking of Sri Lanka. As long as the lackey government for India of Sri Lanka still exist. Ties will never be strong.

CPC is still waiting for finance minister of Sri Lanka to apologise or step down for his insult hurl on Chinese.

 

[Kyle Sun]

Its a one side thinking of Sri Lanka. As long as the lackey government for India of Sri Lanka still exist. Ties will never be strong.

CPC is still waiting for finance minister of Sri Lanka to apologise or step down for his insult hurl on Chinese.

S can not but satisfy the indians in a.certain extent.

after all S is a small and poor country which has a much bigger neighbor called India

 

[Sipahi]

Indian members be like.

FTA will kill Srilankan economy and production.

 

[samv]

Its a one side thinking of Sri Lanka. As long as the lackey government for India of Sri Lanka still exist. Ties will never be strong.

CPC is still waiting for finance minister of Sri Lanka to apologise or step down for his insult hurl on Chinese.

Look at what this racist thief Ravi Karunanayake was saying:

Now running begging to China. Pathetic.

 

[Abotani]

Ah, the problem of having a psycho neighbor like India

This was seriously funny. Irritatingly true as well, sadly.

 

[AbRaj]

Indian members be like.

FTA will kill Srilankan economy and production.

Mutual Recognition Agreement on Anvil to Boost Lankan Exports to India -The New Indian Express

 

[LowPost]

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka is seeking to further cement its relations with China in the year ahead, a senior government minister told Xinhua here recently.

A high-level delegation led by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to visit China this year amid efforts to strengthen ties, said the minister, who asked not to be named.

Wickremesinghe's visit will come at a time when Sri Lanka resumes all its development projects which were suspended by his government earlier last year.

The projects include a multi-billion-dollar port city project funded by China in the capital city and other leisure facilities.

"During the visit, several key areas are expected to be discussed by both sides including the resumption of the suspended projects. China is a key partner for Sri Lanka and this government is committed to further boosting ties," the minister said.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who defeated former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in a presidential election in January last year, himself visited China in March -- his second official visit since winning the presidency.

Although there were immediate reports that relations between the two countries soured with the suspension of the Chinese-backed projects, Sirisena has expressed his will to seek further improved ties between the two countries.

With suspended projects and Sri Lanka's economy not performing as expected due to political instability with the parliamentary election in August 2015, Sri Lanka is hoping that more cooperation with China would give its economy a much-needed boost in the year ahead.

The country's tourism industry which suffered a severe blow following decades of conflict, became the number one foreign exchange earner, largely due to the increase in Chinese and Indian tourists.

By the end of last year, China became the number one market for the most number of tourist arrivals, with the government vowing to do more in 2016 to attract a larger crowd.

"We want more Chinese tourists coming. In 2016, we want to double the number of tourists coming here," said senior advisor to the tourism minister, Felix Srimal Rodrigo.

With an influx of Chinese tourists, the Sri Lankan government is presently negotiating with the Chinese government to expand air links between the two countries.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration has also announced that it would resume all suspended projects in Sri Lanka by early this year.

In December, Sri Lanka's Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that the government was happy with the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the Colombo Port City project and therefore had cleared the deck for the project to continue. The absence of a proper EIA was cited as a major reason for pulling the 1.4 billion US dollars project on hold.

Late last year, the government also announced that it wanted to attract more Chinese investment and expressed willingness to create a special hub in the south of the island nation for this purpose. According to statistics from the Central Bank, so far, China is Sri Lanka's biggest contributor of foreign direct investments.

With many challenges lying ahead for Sirisena, who will complete one year in power this month, Sri Lanka is looking to strong ties with China and fresh projects to achieving the government's vision of developing the nation in the coming years.

Sri Lanka eyes closer ties with China in 2016 - World - Chinadaily.com.cn

@Godman @Gibbs

 

[Godman]

Chinese navy war ships arrive in Sri Lanka despite Indian concerns | Colombo Gazette

 

[Spy Master]

SL..You better be ready to face India's wrath now..!

 

[waz]

I hope Chinese and Sri-Lankan ties continue to strengthen.

 

[Godman]