Speaking at the Sri Lanka Investment Forum on June 8, prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said that his government is taking measures to attract $15bn to the Colombo Port City project over the next five years.

This follows Sri Lanka’s parliament passing the Colombo Port City economic commission bill on May 20, in a move to kickstart the country’s billion-dollar Chinese-backed special economic zone.

The bill, which aims to establish a commission to grant registrations, licenses and other approvals for businesses to operate, passed with amendments by a majority vote.

Part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the project, which is a collaboration between the government of Sri Lanka and China Communications Construction Company, had an initial investment of $1.4bn and is expected to grow to $15bn by the time of completion.

Spanning 269 hectares, it is to be built on reclaimed land connected to the capital’s business district and will be the largest private sector development on the island.