The Port City is slated to break ground on the Colombo International Financial Centre (CIFC ) Phase One 3 towers, Villa plot and the Marina hotel in the third quarter.
The Duty Free complex within the Port City is set to open in May 2023 as well, Colombo Port Commission Chairman Dinesh Weerakkody said dismissing a recent article which alleged that the Port City stirs white elephant fears.
“The Portcity Colombo’s basic infrastructure is scheduled to be completed by the year end,” Weerakoddy added.
A Price waterhouse Coopers (PwC) study shows that Port City Colombo can significantly impact GDP, FDI inflows, and improve our BOP and create over half a million new jobs.
A realised master plan for the Port City provides 5.7 million square meters of built-up area valued at US$ 15 billion.
Given the shifting external global environment, the challenges are obvious and they need to be managed going forward by hiring the right skills, meeting new international investment demand profiles and ensuring policy consistency.
The overall country environment will certainly play its part. Therefore economic stability is key. Playing down these challenges in favour of negative sound bites will be counterproductive and defeatist at best, Weerakkody added
All set for the opening of Colombo Port City US $ 7 million Duty-Free (DF) shopping Mall in May this year after the completion of the interior design work to offer duty free shopping to tourists as well as Sri Lankans and expatriates returning from overseas giving them more choices of shopping,investment promotion ministry sources said.
It will first open as an “IKEA Style Warehouse Model” shopping mall and will develop into a competitive shopping complex in the coming five years. It will also be the first Downtown Duty-Free Mall in Sri Lanka and in the region.
Colombo Port City Duty-Free Regulations have been drafted and are awaiting Cabinet approval for the determination of the duty free allowance and other limitations in purchasing products and luxury items at the shops of the mall, a high official of the ministry opined..
Further these products can be purchased by all passengers who arrive and leave the country via Colombo Port , Colombo or Katunayake Airports with the valid passport and boarding pass as the proof of travel.
The government is now looking at the possibility of offering a revised, enhanced Duty-Free allowance and limitations for Sri Lanka passport holders who return back to the country, he added.
The facility will be managed by two of the world’s leading DF operators, transforming Colombo Port City as a regional shopping destination.
