According to a source, the Adani Group of India is a major leader in developing the East Container Terminal located in the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, in an effort for millionaire Gautam Adani to expand its port business overseas.
In addition, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd and local partners have agreed to sign an agreement with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, which will hold a major stake in the project.
In addition, shareholding details are still under discussion after a project review following a labor protest that had terminated the agreement before the parliamentary elections in August. However, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Adani Group did not want to submit any feedback on the issue.
For everyone's knowledge, Adani, India's largest port and logistics company, signed a preliminary agreement for the project last year.
Efforts to revive the project, which was jointly developed by Sri Lanka, India and Japan, came at a time of growing regional tensions with China. Both India and Japan are members of the unofficial Quad group which together with the US and Australia is seen as an opponent of Beijing's influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has announced a reconnaissance after protests by trade unions fearing foreign control over strategic projects. Previously, the country was allegedly dependent on China for its infrastructure development as well as having led to tensions in New Delhi.
In addition, Sri Lanka, which faced civil war for 3 decades in 2009, is notorious for taking out Chinese loans to finance extensive infrastructure projects, including ports and highways, which eventually became part of the Beijing Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). . Demand for Chinese cash declined after rising debt forced it to sell the Hambantota port back to China Merchants Port Holdings.
In July, India provided a $ 400 million currency exchange facility to Colombo to help with the post-epidemic economic recovery. The two countries also discussed the postponement of debt payments during the first high-level virtual meeting of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa with Narendra Modi in September.
Meanwhile, the country's port authorities last week allegedly started operations in several parts of the East Container Terminal that have been built. Meanwhile, the agreement signed between the former Sri Lankan government with India and Japan is still ongoing and the Sri Lankan government is in talks to operate the port.
