The $15BN Island That Will Make or Break Sri Lanka

eager to create a global city and to punch above its weight on the world stage Sri Lanka has reclaimed two square kilometers of land from the Indian Ocean to double the size of its capital this is how Colombo is about to become one of South Asia's most formidable new centers [Music] each year around 200 thousands for lankans many of them highly skilled leave the country in search of better employment efficiencies since the end of the civil war in 2009 Sri Lanka has sought to bring jobs and talent back to its capital driving a level of economic growth that would earn its global recognition positioned between the powerhouses of Dubai and Singapore and within reach of New Delhi Kuala lumper and Bangkok Colombo's geographic context offers strong potential but its location on Sri Lanka's coastline means that any significant expansion of the city would normally be limited to his fringes away from the existing economic and cultural center there is of course one way around that in order to boost the inner centre port city Colombo has reclaimed 2 square kilometers of land from the sea and we'll add a vast new district of commercial residential and public spaces that is set to create 80 thousand new jobs funded and jointly developed by chec a subsidiary of the china communications construction company and the local government the project is the largest private sector development intra Lanka's history and is set to take more than 25 years to complete the new district will have its own economic and commercial laws making it more attractive to global multinational corporations while its access to key shipping lanes through the Indian Ocean will further boost appeal Bilt has an extension to the central business district and adjacent to the famous golf face green promenade the port city will consist of five precincts each with distinct purposes ranging from lavish leisure and entertainment facilities on the international islands to grade a office and retail space in the financial districts they will combine to form an integrated urban environment that measures more than five million square meters designed for around 80,000 people as well as 250,000 daily commuters developed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill the new districts master plan envisions a sustainable green metropolis with open areas waterways and public spaces across the layout that encourages walking and cycling without heavy vehicle traffic buildings of varying heights will be carefully arranged while taller towers will sit nearer to the mainland the structures will gradually decrease in size the closer they are to the waterfront [Music] constructing an entire new city districts on a site located in the ocean is far from easy the process of land reclamation first started in 2014 initially some three million cubic meters of quarry material sourced from within 50 kilometers of the site and over 40,000 precast concrete tetrapods were used to construct an immense breakwater standing 20 metres high and running 43.2 km/h Cade was built to protect the new districts from the unpredictable monsoon climate indeed the wall was put to the test during its construction a cyclone hit in November 2017 damaging parts of the then unfinished structure with the wall in place 65 million cubic meters of material was dredged from the sea and used to create the vast area of land that port city Colombo is now rising on the reclamation works completed in 2019 and the land was officially declared part of Sri Lanka in December that year [Music] though undoubtedly an immense feat of engineering the reclamation works have not been without controversy environmental groups have raised concerns over the scheme's impact on the local environment and in 2015 Sri Lanka's Prime Minister put the entire project on hold over fears of coastline damage it took almost a year for an environmental impact assessment to give it the green light again allowing work to restart concerns have also been raised around the extent of China's involvement in port city Colombo the project forms part of the Chinese government's built and Road initiative a vast infrastructure program that retraces the ancient Silk Road to better connect China with the Middle East Europe and Africa while poor physical um bow could give China a new route into the Indian subcontinent and its booming markets there are fears it could lead to a repeat of previous deals between the two countries that have not ended well the 1.3 billion USDollar Hambantota port on the islands south side which first opened in 2010 was built using loans from Chinese banks but after heavy losses made repayment difficult the port was handed over to China in 2017 on a 99-year lease meanwhile Mattala Rajapaksa International now dubbed the world's emptiest airport was also funded by a Chinese loan that ran into hundreds of millions of US dollars despite having the capacity to serve a million passengers each year just 1536 people traveled through the airport in 2019 naturally the developers of port city Colombo want to ensure their projects doesn't receive a similar fate with the land reclamation completing in 2019 work on the new district is now progressing at pace the new Colombo international finance city development is already under construction while the yacht marina has entered its final stages the first building in the new districts is set to open in 2023 later in 2020 the government and the CH EC will begin a joint marketing campaign to promote the opportunities of port city Colombo to external investors while sri lanka has had its fair share of disappointing developments in recent years and notwithstanding the controversies of port city colombo the development is expected to meet its objective when it fully completes in 2041 giving the country a supercharged capital that competes on the world stage if you enjoyed this video and would like to get more from the definitive video channel for construction subscribe to the b1m [Music]

Channel: The B1M

Views: 2,373,256

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, sri lanka, port city colombo, china, belt and road initiative, colombo, singapore, dubai, kuala lumpur, bangkok, new delhi, hambantota port, china harbour engineering company, skidmore owings & merrill, land reclamation, reclaimed land, artificial island, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, eko atlantic, Norway's $47BN coastal highway

Id: t2e1xOcGpDc

Length: 7min 41sec (461 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 04 2020