Chinese power projects in Sri Lanka raises concerns in India

COLOMBO (News1st): The contract awarded to a Chinese firm for three power projects in Sri Lanka has raised concerns, as the country backed out of an agreement to award a 49 percent stake of the Colombo Port's East Container Terminal to India's Adani Group. While the debate on the East Container Terminal of the Colombo port continues, the awarding of a contract to install a Hybrid Renewable Energy System on three Islands in the Jaffna peninsula located 50kms from India, to a Chinese Company had given rise to concerns in India. Recently India lodged a strong protest with Sri Lanka on the award of this tender to a Chinese company, for the construction of renewable energy power plants on the Delft, Nagadeepa and Analthivu islands. "The project is a commercial activity in accordance with the international bidding model," a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka told News1st. The spokesperson pointed out that the Chinese company involved in the project is a private firm and that the embassy is unaware of the "specifics of the contract".