Belt and Road Initiative: China builds US$300m factory near Sri Lanka port
- The tyre plant will be built near the Hambantota port, which heightened concerns in the West over Beijing’s lending and influence
- Colombo was forced to hand over the site after it became unable to service the debt on the deepwater facility
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Sri Lanka announced the first large-scale Chinese investment in manufacturing in the country on Tuesday, a US$300-million tyre factory near a strategic deep-sea port.
Western nations, as well as regional power India, have long been concerned about Chinese influence in Sri Lanka through projects under its gargantuan Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
The factory will be near the Hambantota port, which was leased to a Chinese company in 2017 after Sri Lanka failed to service the US$1.4-billion debt from Beijing used to build it.
Sri Lanka’s cabinet approved the setting up of the tyre plant under legislation that allows generous tax concessions, media minister Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters in Colombo.
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He said Shandong Haohua Tire Company will export at least 80 per cent of production, with the option of selling the rest on the local market.
The announcement came just weeks after Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa unveiled the country’s 2021 budget, banking on a huge Chinese real-estate development in Colombo to attract more investment and revive the island’s economy.
The Colombo Port City – a US$1.4 billion land reclamation project which started in 2014 – has doubled the size of Sri Lanka’s current financial district.
When Rajapaksa was president between 2005-15, Colombo borrowed billions from China, accumulating a mountain of debt for a string of infrastructure projects – including an international airport dubbed “the world’s emptiest” by media for its lack of flights.
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He and his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa – the current president – have rejected accusations that many such projects are white elephants, and have denied falling victim to a Chinese debt trap.
With credit agencies cutting Sri Lanka’s debt ratings, the country is expecting more Chinese loans in the new year.
Its economy is struggling with both the coronavirus pandemic and the devastating effect the Easter Sunday bombings last year had on the tourism industry.
