Sri Lanka Awards Port Contract

20 September 2010 (Last Updated September 20th, 2010 18:30)

Sri Lanka has awarded a $450m contract to a consortium led by China Merchant Holdings International and Aitken Spence for the development of a deepwater container terminal in Colombo. Aitken Spence said the consortium will design, construct, develop, manage, operate and transfer the termi

Sri Lanka has awarded a $450m contract to a consortium led by China Merchant Holdings International and Aitken Spence for the development of a deepwater container terminal in Colombo.

Aitken Spence said the consortium will design, construct, develop, manage, operate and transfer the terminal.

The contract includes the construction of a 1,200m quay wall with a minimum water depth of 18m, which will be executed in two phases.

The construction will start within six months and the project is expected to increase the Sri Lanka Port Authority’s cargo handling capacity by another 2.4 million teu.

CMHI will have a 55% stake, while Aitken Spence will share 30%, with the remainder held by the Sri Lanka Port Authority.