company:china merchants port holdings

China signs 99-year lease on Sri Lanka’s #Hambantota port

Sri Lanka has formally handed over its southern port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease, which government critics have denounced as an erosion of the country’s sovereignty.

The $1.3bn port was opened seven years ago using debt from Chinese state-controlled entities. But it has since struggled under heavy losses, making it impossible for Colombo to repay its debts.

In 2016, Sri Lankan ministers struck a deal to sell an 80 per cent stake in the port to the state-controlled China Merchants Port Holdings.

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Sri Lanka signs $1.1 billion China port deal amid local, foreign concerns
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-china-ports-idUSKBN1AE0CN

Sri Lanka signed a long delayed $1.1 billion deal on Saturday to lease its southern Hambantota port to China ignoring an appeal by opposition parties to debate the pact in parliament.

The deal was signed between the two state firms — Sri LankaPorts Authority (SLPA) and China Merchants Port Holdings(0144.HK) to handle the commercial operations of the Chinese-built port on a 99-year lease.

Chinese firm will hold 70 stake in a joint venture with SLPA to run the port, part of a plan to convert loans worth $6 billion that Sri Lanka owes China into equity.
[…]
Hu Jianhua, the executive vice president of the ChinaMerchants Port said the port facilities belong to the citizens of Sri Lanka but will be a key part of China’s massive #One_Belt_One_Road initiative to build trade and transport links across Asia and beyond.
[…]
Government and diplomatic sources told Reuters that the United States, India and Japan have raised concerns over possible military activities by China in Hambantota port.

#OBOR