Dredging360.com

It is being widely reported that the governments of Japan, India and Sri Lanka have agreed to jointly develop a new container terminal in the Port of Colombo. If the expected memorandum of understanding covering the proposed East Container Terminal is signed as expected it will mark a strategic departure for Sri Lanka which in recent years has focused on securing investment from China under its Belt and Road initiative.

The investment will include dredging and the building of new deepwater berths able to accommodate the largest new generation container vessels engaged in world trade. Construction work is expected to commence in March 2020.

COLOMBO, May 24 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is in advanced talks with India and Japan to construct a container terminal at the port in Colombo, next to a Chinese terminal built as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, government officials said.

The involvement of India and Japan is the latest sign that Sri Lanka wants to neutralise the growing influence of China, which has poured money into the South Asian island under its mammoth Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure plan, to the alarm of other Asian powers.

Sri Lanka recently signed a deal with India and Japan to develop a sea container terminal in the island country, almost two years after the government signed away ownership of a nearby port to China after defaulting on loans.

The three nations signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) on the joint development of the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port on May 28, according to Indian daily newspaper The Hindu.