{"id":121539,"date":"2021-12-26T16:44:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-26T23:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121539"},"modified":"2021-12-26T16:44:46","modified_gmt":"2021-12-26T23:44:46","slug":"city-of-the-future-rising-from-the-sea-at-colombo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/26\/city-of-the-future-rising-from-the-sea-at-colombo\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCity of the future\u201d rising from the sea at Colombo"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>By Xinhua Writer Tang Lu<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"GLOBALink | A &quot;city of the future&quot; rising from the sea\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SVwhFrqesyY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Colombo, December 26 (Xinhua): &nbsp;On the golden artificial beach in Colombo\u2019s Port City, the Sri Lankan Sanjeewa Alwis was earnestly building\u201d a sandcastle model similar to the financial center building that will be built in Port City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Noticing Alwis\u2019 masterpiece\u201d on the beach, three Sri Lankan kids playing by the sea rushed to him to jointly build the sandcastle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newsin.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Colombo-Port-City-Marina-2-Photo-Tang-Lu-Xinhua.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68171\"\/><figcaption>Colombo Port City Marina Photo: Tang Lu\/Xinhua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While listening to Alwis, who talked about the sandcastle that was piled up\u201d from the sea, one curious girl asked: Can a city be \u2018piled\u2019 in the sea? What will this city rising from the sea look like in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alwis, who is a project engineer working at China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC)\u2019s Port City Colombo project, has been working here for five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newsin.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Colombo-Port-City-being-modeled-on-the-beach-by-Sanjeewa-Alwis-and-the-kids.Photo-Tang-Lu-Xinhua.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68172\"\/><figcaption>Colombo Port City being modeled on the beach by Sanjeewa Alwis and the kids. Photo: Tang Lu\/Xinhua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Port City Colombo project, located near Colombo\u2019s central business district, is a large-scale investment project jointly developed by the CHEC and the Sri Lankan government. It is regarded as a model of cooperation between China and Sri Lanka in jointly building the Belt and Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alwis has witnessed the construction of the project since it began. He went to China to study electrical engineering and automation for six years at Tsinghua University in the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newsin.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Colombo-Port-City-grand-aerial-view.-Photo-Xinhua.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68173\"\/><figcaption>Colombo Port City grand aerial view. Photo: Xinhua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I am very proud to be working as part of a Port City project, to (help) build my home country with the knowledge I have got from China,\u201d said Alwis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the early stage of construction, one of his tasks was to coordinate with relevant departments of the Colombo government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newsin.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Colombo-Port-City-Marina-1-Photo.Tang-Lu-Xinhua-.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68174\"\/><figcaption>Colombo Port City Fun at the Marina. Photo: Tang Lu\/ Xinhua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To ensure the smooth progress of the project, the construction site needed at least two water sources. With Alwis\u2019 efforts, the project finally got the sources. Whatever we are doing now will be a sample of Sri Lanka\u2019s future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In January 2019, the reclamation project was completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newsin.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Colombo-Port-City-consturction-site-1-Photo-Tang-Lu-Xinhua.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68175\"\/><figcaption>Colombo Port City construction site. Photo: Tang Lu\/ Xinhua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The completion of the reclamation project not only marks the progress made in the overall construction of the Port City project, but is also a demonstration of Chinese solutions and technologies on the world stage,\u201d said Zheng Hao, deputy project manager of CHEC\u2019s Port City Colombo project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the completion of land reclamation, a series of new facilities have been built, including a central park, an artificial beach, a sports training center, a marina and a footbridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newsin.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Christmas-at-Colombo-Port-City-Marina-Photo-Tang-Lu-Xinhua.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68176\"\/><figcaption>Christmas at Colombo Port City Marina. Photo: Tang Lu\/Xinhua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Port City Colombo is the most promising project for our country,\u201d said Sonala Gunawardana, chairman of the National Library of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tharaka Samarasingha, a young Sri Lankan photographer, said that I am proud of the expansion of our territory after land reclamation, which will be one of the most important parts of our children\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newsin.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/A-young-couple-having-the-time-of-their-lives-at-the-Colombo-Port-City-Marina-Photo-Tang-Lu-Xinhua-.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68177\"\/><figcaption>A young couple having the time of their lives at the Colombo Port City Marina Photo: Tang Lu\/Xinhua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Xinhua Writer Tang Lu Colombo, December 26 (Xinhua): &nbsp;On the golden artificial beach in Colombo\u2019s Port City, the Sri Lankan Sanjeewa Alwis was earnestly building\u201d a sandcastle model similar to the financial center building that will be built in Port City. Noticing Alwis\u2019 masterpiece\u201d on the beach, three Sri Lankan kids playing by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}