Colombo Port: Adanis’ funding to continue, says Sri Lankan minister

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s Ports Minister Bimal Rathnayaka has said the Adani Group will continue to fund the Colombo Port as the island nation has no issues with the Indian conglomerate, the media reported on Friday.

The Sri Lankan government wanted to go ahead with the development of the deep-water container terminal project at the Colombo Port and has no issue with the Adani-led conglomerate using its own resources to fund it, he said.

In an exchange filing late on Tuesday, Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd also said the ongoing Colombo project “is on track for commissioning by early next year” and that the company will fund it through “internal accruals,” aligning with its capital management strategy.

Rathnayaka told reporters during a tour of the port on Thursday that the project is very important for revenue generation, and “We are keen to see it going ahead.”

The Adani Group’s decision to reject funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) was its own and Sri Lanka had no issues with it.

The DFC, in November 2023, agreed to provide a USD 553 million loan to support the development, construction, and operation of a deep-water container terminal called the Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT) at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

The CWIT is being developed by a consortium of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, Sri Lankan conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc, and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). The DFC financing was part of the US government’s broader efforts to counter China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean region and was seen as an endorsement of the Adanis’ ability to develop world-class infrastructure.

However, the ongoing loan process stalled after the DFC asked that the agreement between the Adanis and the SLPA be amended to align with their conditions, which then went under review by Sri Lanka’s Attorney General. As the project is nearing completion, Adani Ports, which holds 51 percent of the venture, proceeded with the project without funding from the DFC, the reports said.

Rathnayaka, however, said the government is still opposed to another Adani project — the wind power project in the northeastern district of Mannar — as it was against Sri Lanka’s interests.

“The Sri Lankan President and the government have informed the court about our reasons to oppose it,”, he said, referring to fundamental rights petitions filed against it by environmentalists.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in his campaign rallies for the September 21 presidential election, had vowed to cancel Adani Green Energy’s wind power project in Mannar.