The "Pearl of the Indian Ocean" goes green

The ecology of Colombo Port City is an important element of the design plan. Of the 269 hectares of land in Port City, 93 hectares of public land are available, of which nearly half is green space and waterfront space. 

by China Legal Daily, Li Yazhoujun

Since the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, Chinese enterprises have always adhered to the concept of "harmony between human and nature" and have built and operated a number of large-scale infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, making this "pearl of the Indian Ocean" in South Asia green. The "pearl of the Indian Ocean" has blossomed into green.

The ecology of Colombo Port City is an important element of the design plan. Of the 269 hectares of land in Port City, 93 hectares of public land are available, of which nearly half is green space and waterfront space. The central park at the heart of the city will be the focal point and 'green lung' of the city. The river and waterfront corridor, the green links stretching east-west and north-south, the circular boulevard and the unique 2km long artificial beach in Colombo will be interwoven to provide leisure and recreation for the residents of the city, as well as It will also greatly enhance the ecological environment of the city.

The 2017 collapse of the garbage landfill to the northeast of Colombo city prompted the local government to recognise the mismatch between urbanisation development and waste treatment capacity. Previously, Sri Lanka's waste treatment facilities had rudimentary processes and weak treatment capacity, far from being able to meet the needs of urbanisation development. China Harbour took over this difficult livelihood issue and designed and built the Colombo District Solid Waste Treatment Project.

According to the introduction, the main treatment system of the project landfill includes landfill area containment system, leachate diversion system, groundwater diversion system, methane gas collection system and leachate treatment system. Once the project is operational, the wastewater, which has undergone a series of physical and chemical treatments, will meet Sri Lanka's Class 1 discharge standards and be used directly for greening and irrigation in the Puttalam.

Excerpts of the article originally published in Chinese. Click here to read the original article.