Sri Lanka's first Chinese-built port, a strong symbol of Beijing's investment in South Asia, opened for international shipping on Wednesday with the arrival of 1,000 cars from India. The $1.5-billion deep-sea port in southern Hambantota, the home constituency of President Mahinda Rajapakse, straddles a major east-west shipping lane used by 200-300 international vessels daily.
The project, which was delayed by just over a year, was conceived to create a new logistics hub to handle transshipments from Asia and provide a boost to Sri Lanka's economy as it recovers from decades of civil war. Regional power India turned down an offer to construct the port soon after Rajapakse came to power in 2005 saying it was not commercially viable, but China's presence has created unease in New Delhi.
India views Sri Lanka as being firmly within its sphere of influence and has been concerned about China getting a foothold there and in other surrounding countries. China loaned money for the port and construction was led by Chinese engineers and workers, but the facility is managed exclusively by Sri Lankans. "We have a vast area of land for storage at the port. This we can offer to car manufacturers in Asia to hold their stocks," Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrama told AFP, adding that there was also space for car assembly around the port.
He hopes to raise the number of vehicles handled at Hambantota - 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of the capital Colombo - to one million within five years. China is also building a second port in Colombo and Chinese firms have pledged investments amounting to $50 billion spread over the next 10 to 15 years, according to Sri Lanka's trade ministry.