Mumbai, December 11 (IANS). Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (APSEZ) Ltd has said that it will complete the Sri Lanka port project using its own financial resources and does not require US funding.
In the information given by Adani Ports to the stock exchange, it was said that the Sri Lanka Port Project is going on schedule and will be completed next year.
“The Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT) project in Sri Lanka is progressing and is on track to be commissioned early next year,” the company added.
Additionally, the company said, “The project will be financed through the company’s internal resources and capital management plan. We have withdrawn our request for finance from the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC).”
In November last year the US International Development Finance Corporation agreed to provide a $553 million loan to support the development, construction and operation of the CWIT at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka.
CWIT is being developed by a consortium of Adani Ports, Sri Lankan business conglomerate John Keells Holdings PLC and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).
The CWIT project started in September 2021. For this, Adani Ports had signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Sri Lankan business group John Keells Holdings, promising an investment of more than $700 million to expand the capacities of Colombo Port.
CWIT will be Sri Lanka’s largest and deepest container terminal, with a length of 1,400 meters and depth of 20 metres.
Colombo Port is the largest and busiest trans-shipment port in the Indian Ocean and has been operating at over 90 per cent capacity since 2021, indicating the need for additional capacity. The new terminal is expected to have an annual cargo handling capacity of more than 3.2 million tonnes.
–IANS
abs/kr
