{"id":79823,"date":"2018-08-02T04:48:22","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T11:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=79823"},"modified":"2018-08-02T04:48:22","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T11:48:22","slug":"sri-lankas-new-dubai-will-chinese-built-city-suck-the-life-out-of-colombo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/08\/02\/sri-lankas-new-dubai-will-chinese-built-city-suck-the-life-out-of-colombo\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka’s ‘new Dubai’: will Chinese-built city suck the life out of Colombo?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Courtesy\u00a0 The Guardian<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/figure>\n<\/header>\n
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I<\/span><\/span>ron cannons installed by the Dutch to ward off colonial rivals still line Galle Face Green, a grassy, mile-long promenade along the Colombo seafront. Further out to sea, within range of the guns, a new world power is leaving its mark on Sri Lanka\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

Currently, Port City is just a flat expanse of blank land jutting out into the ocean, growing a fraction larger each day, as dredging ships pour what will eventually amount to 65 million cubic metres of sand.<\/p>\n\"The<\/picture>\n

The construction of Port Cityis being funded via the largest single foreign direct investment in Sri Lankan history. Photograph: Atul Loke\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/picture><\/em><\/p>\n

Within a few years, however, Port City will be the site of glass skyscrapers, a busy financial district, hospitals, hotels and even a theme park. Across the world, Chinese companies are developing President Xi Jinping\u2019s\u00a0Belt and Road Initiative<\/a>\u00a0by building new roads, ports and bridges \u2013 but in Sri Lanka they are building a whole new metropolis.<\/p>\n

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\nQ&A<\/span><\/summary>\n

Cities of the New Silk Road: what is China’s Belt and Road project?<\/h4>\n