> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Opposition MP Blames US Port Grant for Loss of $392 Million Chinese Project - URL: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/featured/opposition-mp-blames-us-port-grant-for-loss-of-392-million-chinese-project/ - Published: 2026-11-05T03:07:14.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-05T12:16:13.000Z - Author: Our Reporter - Tags: November 2026 **COLOMBO:** An opposition lawmaker accused the government on Wednesday of losing a $392 million Chinese investment at Colombo Port by accepting a $17 million grant from the United States. The claim is contradicted by the Chinese company’s own stock exchange filing and by the date the American grant was announced. Mujibur Rahman, a parliamentarian of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), was speaking in a debate on regulations under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act. He said the government had installed US-funded CCTV cameras at the port, close to the site of a Chinese project, and had lost the investment as a result. “The government accepted a $17 million grant from the United States to improve infrastructure at the port and took steps to install CCTV cameras in the area. As a result, we have lost a $392 million Chinese investment project,” Rahman said. “The government’s poor management, particularly its decision to install American cameras close to the Chinese project at the port, is entirely responsible for this situation.” The project Rahman referred to is the South Asia Commercial and Logistics Hub. In April 2023, China Merchants Port Holdings, a Chinese state-owned port operator, and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) agreed to build it as a 150,000-square-meter warehousing and logistics complex inside the port. It was promoted as the first major foreign investment Sri Lanka had attracted since its economy collapsed in 2022. On October 15, China Merchants told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it and its Sri Lankan partners had agreed to terminate the project. US Ambassador Eric Meyer announced the $17 million grant during a visit to the port the following day, October 16\. Although the Chinese company's announcement preceded the public announcement of the American grant, the timeline alone does not establish whether the grant had any bearing on the decision to abandon the project. According to the ports authority and the US Embassy, the grant pays for two digital systems: a Maritime Single Window, through which ships file arrival, departure and regulatory information on one platform, and a Port Community System that links the port, customs and shipping agencies. None of the public announcements of the grant mentioned surveillance cameras. In its filing, China Merchants cited changes in external circumstances, changes to the project’s implementation environment and timetable, and commercial considerations among the partners. The company said ending the project would be in the best interests of all parties. The hub had stalled long before the American grant. It was planned as a Strategic Development Project, a status that carries generous tax concessions. In early 2023, after Sri Lanka’s sovereign default and the start of its IMF programme, that facility was withdrawn. The developers were told to seek the Board of Investment’s less favourable general concessions instead. In December 2023, then-President Ranil Wickremesinghe gazetted the project under the Strategic Development Projects Act, which included a 15-year exemption from corporate income and dividend taxes. The IMF has criticised that kind of concession. In 2024, Sirimevan Ranasinghe, then chairman of the SLPA, said the project had not started because of the dispute over concessions. The shipping journal Lloyd’s List has also reported land and regulatory obstacles. China Merchants was to hold 70 percent of the venture. The SLPA and the Sri Lankan contractor Access Engineering were to hold 15 percent each. The three shareholders had put in a combined $37.14 million before the project was abandoned. Under the settlement, the SLPA will pay $21.9 million to the project company within 30 days, and the company will be wound up. The ports authority says it will look for a new developer through competitive bidding under a public–private partnership. The withdrawal does not end China’s presence at Sri Lanka’s ports. China Merchants still owns 85 percent of Colombo International Container Terminals, which operates the port’s South Terminal, and it manages Hambantota Port under a 99-year lease. ## **Questions over conference funding** Rahman also questioned a Rs. 100 million allocation for the General Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), which was held in Colombo this month. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake opened the 63rd General Assembly on November 1\. Representatives of 225 media organisations from 66 countries attended. MBC and MTV, both part of the Maharaja Media Network, were the official hosts. “Minister Nalinda Jayatissa claimed that this was not government money. If that is the case, why did the President have to submit a Cabinet memorandum and obtain approval to release the funds?” Rahman asked. He said the money came from tourism promotion funds, which belong to the Treasury, so it was public money. Rahman compared the allocation with the case against former minister Basil Rajapaksa. On October 14, the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court issued a warrant for Rajapaksa’s arrest over the alleged misuse of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau funds during the 2014 Uva Provincial Council election. Investigators told the court that Rs. 7.8 million allocated to the bureau had not been spent on promotion. They allege it was used to buy 12,000 T-shirts for the election campaign. The court directed the Criminal Investigation Department to seek an Interpol Red Notice. In a separate land-purchase case, the Matara Chief Magistrate’s Court has also issued warrants against Rajapaksa for failing to appear. “If the law is equal for everyone, the same principle must apply to the President,” Rahman said. ## **Closed grounds and VIP security** Rahman also criticised the closure of the P. D. Sirisena Cooray Grounds in Maligawatte, Colombo, where meetings chaired by the President are being held. He said the grounds had been closed and under police guard since October 27\. As a result, schoolchildren could not hold football practice there and residents could not use them for exercise. “It is unacceptable that a public ground used by schoolchildren for football practice and by residents for exercise has been closed in this manner,” he said. He also accused the governing National People’s Power, which came to power in 2024 promising to cut back the privileges of political leaders, of abandoning that position. “Those who once declared that VIP security was unnecessary are now providing security on a scale not seen even during the war,” he said. The government had not publicly responded to Rahman’s remarks by the time of publication.