Sri Lankan Parliament to debate China-backed Port City Bill next week ANI | Updated: May 14, 2021 11:08 IST
This comes after a Committee on Parliamentary Business decided to convene the Parliament from May 18 to May 20 in line with the Covid 19 health regulations, Colombo Page reported.
Amid criticism from opposition parties, Sri Lanka has unveiled a contentious draft law for a Colombo Port City Commission which allows for sweeping tax breaks, tax-free salaries and be an offshore financial centre.
The USD 1.4-billion Colombo Port City project is slated to be the single largest private sector development in Sri Lanka. There have been concerns about Beijing seeking to increase its footprint in the country through contentious infrastructure projects.
COLOMBO (News 1st); The government decided to debate the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill on 19th & 20th of May, disregarding objections - Get the latest breaking news and top stories from Sri Lanka, the latest political news, sports news, weather updates, exam results, business news, entertainment news, world news and much more from News 1st, Sri Lanka's leading news network.
Parliament to convene for three days next week dailynews.lk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailynews.lk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Even as Sri Lanka, like much of the rest of the world, is plagued still by the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s energy is being sapped by the ongoing controversy over the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill presented to Parliament last week. Under the nation’s law, every new Bill has to be cleared by the Supreme Court before Parliament votes on it, and a five-Judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, is seized of the matter, and the court’s observations are expected early on.
Along with the Hambantota Port Project, the Colombo Port City special economic zone (SEZ) became controversial at birth, both for Chinese involvement and the hyper-secrecy of the post-war government of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, now Prime Minister. Despite internal differences, the successor government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed to have sanitised the SEZ after the latter had declared its imminent cancellation if the
Since the return of the Rajapaksa brothers to office as president and prime minister in Sri Lanka, Colombo’s relations with China have improved dramatically. Earlier in the week, the Sri Lankan Parliament decided to postpone a debate on the controversial Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill that was scheduled for the middle of the week. The bill was seen as supporting China’s interests, and tantamount to ceding control over Colombo Port City. It triggered a domestic political storm. Officials reportedly told the media that, “All party leaders in the House agreed that the debate should be rescheduled as the Supreme Court’s determination on the constitutionality of the bill had not yet reached Parliament.”