Chinese firm halts Sri Lanka port city project

A Chinese company involved in a 1.4-billion U.S. dollar port city project in Sri Lanka is obeying a government order to suspend its work on the site.

China Communications Construction Company is building the project using reclaimed land in the harbor of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo.

The Sri Lankan government has ordered the project be put on-hold, citing a lack of transparency during the project's approval process undertaking by Sri Lanka's former government.

The Chinese company estimates it is losing 380-thousand U.S. dollars a day due to the suspension due to interest payments it still has to make on the loans it took out to finance the massive project.

Communications Construction also says some 200 meters of breakwater its constructed has been damaged due to the project's suspension, as the company is unable to take measures to protect the reclaimed land.

It says this is going to add additional costs to the project, if it ever goes ahead.