Gautam Adani was the chairman of Adani Group. Selected to develop a major port terminal project in Sri LankaAccording to official sources in Colombo and New Delhi, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is scheduled to meet in Colombo on Monday.
“It is a private visit and Mr. Adani is expected to meet the President to discuss the Paschim Container Terminal project,” a senior official said. Hindu on Sunday night.
The source requested anonymity, confirming the “high-profile visit”, which includes meetings with “top Sri Lankan dignitaries”.
Mr. Adani’s visit to a virtual event of the Adani Group comes in less than a month, Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement signed To jointly develop the West Container Terminal (WCT) at Colombo Port with its Sri Lankan partner in the project, John Keels Holdings and Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).
According to sources in India familiar with the development, Mr Adani is “interested in projects related to ports, power and renewable energy in Sri Lanka”.
“Mr. Adani will discuss possible projects in these areas after meeting President Rajapaksa.”
Following Sri Lanka’s controversial decision earlier this year to cancel the 2019 Tripartite Agreement The Rajapaksa government pitched the WCT project as “a pact”, with India and Japan to jointly develop the East Container Terminal at Colombo Port.
private investors
There is no Indian government role in the WCT project, unlike the previously envisaged ECT project, with the Adani Group entering the picture as a private investor, amid questions from Sri Lankan experts as to how the investor was chosen. There was a lack of transparency.
Confirming the project in a tweet on March 15, 2021, Mr. Adani said: “Grateful to the leaders of Government of India, GOSL, SLPA and John Keels for the opportunity to build WCT, Colombo. This partnership is a symbol of deep strategic ties between countries with great interconnected histories. It would launch decades of container development. “
(With inputs from Mahesh Langa in Ahmedabad)
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