China, owning reclaimed land at Colombo, is a worrying development in the Indian Ocean Region.
The importance of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) cannot be over-emphasised. All the ships have to circumnavigate Sri Lanka if they are travelling anywhere in the IOR. And, China’s interest in the Sri Lankan ports of Hambantota and Colombo are well known. China has been overtly assertive in getting contracts for the construction of Hambantota port and the expansion of Colombo port. Now China is eyeing to develop a special economic zone of more than 15,000 acres near Hambantota and a city enclave South of the newly built Colombo container port.
Chinese warships and nuclear submarines have been making port calls at Colombo since last three years. Last year in February, PLAN Type 926 submarine tender (ASR) #865 Liugongdao was seen in Colombo, Sri Lanka, suggesting continuous presence of PLAN submarine(s) in the IOR!
The debt trap
As is well known, China’s assistance to any country always comes with preconditions. China has been exploiting Sri Lanka’s fledgling economic situation to its advantage. China has asked the Sri Lankan government to clear the domestic legal and political issues before investments are made into the Colombo Port City Development Project. “China has said that when they start the port, they want the land also,” Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake had said, although he added that China had not made it a precondition. However, Yi Xianliang, Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka, has said the two deals were related. 1
Beijing seems to have linked the two projects to pressurise heavily indebted Colombo although Sri Lankan political leaders deny any linkage. The Magampura public protests have not been heeded by the Sri Lankan government. 2
The Colombo Port City Development Project is being constructed by the CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, a local company integrated under Sri Lankan law which signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). It is a local front fully owned and operated by the China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), black listed by the World Bank.
The CCCC dropped its claim for $143 million for delaying the Port City project of $1.4 billion after the Sri Lankan government allocated 272 acres, out of the reclaimed land of 665 acres. 3
The CHEC announced commencement of work through a welcome note published in August last year on its site. 4
Reclamation area
China started the reclamation work immediately. The land area to be reclaimed is approximately 665 acres to the South of Colombo Container Port. The satellite imagery shows that a much larger area is being reclaimed. It is almost 2km X 2km which works out to be approximately 10,000 acres. The overview of the project is shown in the image below.
The reclamation of land by China started somewhere in the first week of August last year. The speed of reclamation in the last six months, as seen on the satellite imagery, is amazing.
The dredging area as observed on satellite imagery is approximately 30km ENE of the reclaimed land.
Dredging ships
There are two trailing suction hopper dredgers, Jun Yang 1 and Wan Qing Sha, that are being used by the CHEC for the reclamation of land South of the Container Port. Jun Yang 1 is a 170m long dredger with a gross tonnage of 20,000 and DWT 33,000. It is homeported at Guangzhou and carries a Chinese flag. Wan Qing Sha is a 132m long dredger with a gross tonnage of 11,000 and DWT 12,000. It is homeported at Guangzhou and also carries a Chinese flag.
PLAN ships
A large number of PLAN ships and submarines have been visiting Sri Lankan ports since last five years. The frequency has increased in the last three years. These ships mostly are survey vessels with ESM/ECM tasks. Even the training ship #81 Zhenghe was carrying an additional ESM/ECM radome when it visited Colombo recently.
A large number of PLAN ships and submarines have been visiting Sri Lankan ports since last five years. The frequency has increased in the last three years.
A large number of PLAN ships and submarines have been visiting Sri Lankan ports since last five years. The frequency has increased in the last three years.
The visits by PLAN ships were interesting to read on satellite imagery. The first one was a 21stanti-piracy flotilla consisting of two modern Type 54A frigates #573 Liuzhou and #574 Sanya along with Type908 fleet replenishment ship #885 Qinghaihu. This so called anti-piracy flotilla was in the IOR for more than two months before it returned to China.
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