As one of the first countries to respond and actively participate, Sri Lanka’s One Belt One Road projects are blooming everywhere. However, the local area is currently in a severe economic crisis, with debt defaults, rising prices, and people’s living hardships. important motivation. A few days ago, the reporter visited the Colombo Port City Special Economic Zone, a key project of the Belt and Road Initiative in Sri Lanka, to understand how Chinese companies have developed against the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, provided a large number of jobs for the local area, and helped Sri Lanka, a pearl of South Asia, to rejuvenate.

Feel the temperature of Chinese enterprises

It is my great fortune to be able to join the HafenCity project. Shanny Pereira, who has worked in the project for 7 years, told reporters that under the economic crisis, many of my friends lost their jobs, but I not only have a stable job, but also get promoted and raise my salary.

Sunny lives in Moratuwa, 20 kilometers away from Colombo, and it takes about 2 hours to commute to and from get off work every day. According to her, when there is a fuel shortage in Sri Lanka in 2022, vehicles will have to queue for two or three days to refuel at gas stations, public transportation will almost be paralyzed, and the company will provide free commuter vehicles for employees. During the economic crisis, food and other condolences were distributed to employees' families. At this difficult time, I truly feel the warmth of Chinese companies.

Engineer Sanjiva inspects the construction site in Port City, Colombo, Sri Lanka

The port city project is the first special economic zone developed and operated by a Chinese enterprise overseas. It is invested, constructed and operated by China Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Communications Corporation. It has formed 269 hectares of land through reclamation. It was selected by American magazines as one of the five new cities that will affect the future.

According to the evaluation of the management consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers, the port city project will attract more than 9.7 billion US dollars of foreign direct investment to Sri Lanka during the three stages of primary development, secondary development and urban operation. The project has increased the fiscal revenue of more than US$5 billion for the Sri Lankan government, and will continue to create a total of more than 400,000 high-quality jobs for the local area, providing guarantee for the employment and life of the local people during the economic crisis.

Solve brain drain

I come from a middle-class family. After the economic crisis broke out, it was very difficult to find employment and development opportunities locally. All my close friends and classmates have immigrated overseas. If I hadn’t joined the Port City project, I would have been part of the overseas immigration. Nisar Karunaborough is a department manager of the Port City project. He told the reporter that I can deeply understand from my work that the Port City project plays a very important role in the Sri Lankan economy and will become a major part of the Sri Lankan economy. country business card.

During the interview, the reporter learned that in Sri Lanka, tourism, shipping and garment manufacturing and processing are the main sources of foreign exchange income. These industries have been greatly impacted by the new crown epidemic and the economic crisis. The significance of the port city project to Sri Lanka is to help it complete industrial upgrading and industrial transformation, from a world-renowned tourist destination to a regional financial center serving the whole of South Asia.

The port city project is tailored based on the reality and future needs of Sri Lanka's economic recovery, industrial structure transformation, and development quality upgrade. Li Xing, Manager of the Investment Promotion and Marketing Department of the Port City Project, told reporters that through research and research with many international and domestic think tanks, the project has identified information technology, offshore financial services, shipping logistics, professional services, information education, leisure tourism, etc. Six pillar industries.

As Sri Lanka gradually realizes industrial transformation and economic recovery, this business card will attract more talents to develop in the future. The Port City project is the answer to the brain drain in Sri Lanka, and my friends will definitely come back for this project in the future. Nisar said.

out of the economic crisis

As an important reason for the outbreak of the economic crisis, Sri Lanka's imports and exports are extremely unbalanced, and the import value once reached more than twice the export value. The port city project helps Sri Lanka balance its import and export volume to a certain extent, and ease the economic crisis by attracting foreign investment.

In order to get out of the economic crisis, foreign direct investment is necessary. In this regard, the goal of the Sri Lankan government and the port city project is highly consistent. Tulsi Aluvihar, deputy general manager of the Port City project, told reporters that as a special economic zone, the project can not only attract foreign direct investment, but also be a 100% export-oriented industrial platform, which undoubtedly plays a vital role in the Sri Lankan economy. important role.

According to Li Xing, from a global perspective, the Port City project can fill the gap in financial services between Dubai and Singapore. In the future, the Harbor City Special Economic Zone will become a new platform for international economic and trade cooperation serving South Asia and the world. The port city project will be the engine for Sri Lanka to emerge from the crisis and develop in the future. Nisar said.Editor/Ma Xue