STARBOARD FOR A PORT CITY
Wijith DeChickera spots a pretty girl on the beach west of Colombo’s fair shores and hope she knows she’s not the only one around
Port City Colombo (PCC) is the kind of place that leaves one feeling a certain frisson. First it was the politics of the place and then PCC’s geopolitical dimension. Neither of which however, we will explore in this piece – especially as an embarrassment of ink has been spilled over it.
Then there was a purely developmental angle. There it sits, like a pretty girl on the beach off the western shores of Sri Lanka’s historic and commercial capital Colombo.
But day after month after year since all the hype and hoopla initially galvanised the plebs, very little seems to be happening in terms of construction – except for a plethora of cranes and gantries in the haze, and the distant buzzing of waterfront sounds like the murmuring of innumerable bees.
This may leave one wondering why it is that by now, passersby aren’t uttering breathlessly that ‘Earth has not anything to show more fair’ rather than muttering bemusedly under one’s breath why ‘ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples’ don’t lie ‘open unto the fields and to the sky’ in this valuable piece of real estate.
Part of the problem may be the complex interrelationships between sovereign governments, and their corporate and bureaucratic agencies.
And ever since the Colombo International Financial Centre (CIFC) garnered the interest of city, chamber and council, the Colombo Port City Special Economic Zone (SEZ) has been a hybrid between tremendous developmental potential and unrealised national ambitions in the public imagination.
That impression may be neither fair nor true from the point of view of the panoply of investors, shareholders and stakeholders in the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) offshore development project, to boost Sri Lanka’s business, investment and lifestyle dimensions.
For one, anyone who drives along the perimeter of the passable roads in this emerging outpost of internationally oriented national development will see that CHEC Port City Colombo in the middle distance is a hive of interim construction activity.
Then again, little-known facets of this dry patch of land reclaimed from the sea – such as the downtown duty-free shop at The Mall there (where travellers can eschew the distracting business of airports and shop later, at leisure in an urban centre’s urbane settings) – are attracting the middle class patrons of affordable luxuries aspiring to the jet-setting ethos that Sri Lankans with global ambitions harbour.
With a wide range of offerings from China Duty Free, Flemingo of India and Singapore’s One World Duty Free, it will eventually boost Port City Colombo’s plans to become a major retail and commercial hub.
Last but by no means least, there is a growing host of sports, leisure and entertainment activities that are a sure draw for those in Colombo, suburbs and affluent boroughs islandwide of the ‘be seen about town’ bourgeoisie in this age of our putative classless society.
The activities on offer span a spectrum of thrilling pursuits from sailing (‘enjoy the wind and open sea’), golf (‘unlock your potential amid lush landscapes’) and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) rides that ‘conquer the dunes in style’; through the ‘unique experience’ of horse riding and go-karting to ‘feel the thrill of racing,’ to a plethora of water sports, which invite the bold and brave to ‘ride the waves and chase adventure.’
Best accessed on the Port City Colombo access mobile app, the sports, leisure and entertainment offerings at PCC offer succour to pleasure and thrill seekers on help@ambrumsolutions.com – CHEC it out (pun intended).
Of course, ‘only the knowing know’ (as they say on the mainland of this would-be Macau). Because for reasons best known to them, the proprietors of the respective properties – but not necessarily the developers of PCC – have apparently done their best to hide their lights under a bushel.
One trusts however, that the authorities concerned can sooner than later come to the conclusion that Port City Colombo is not the only pretty girl on the beaches of the western seaboard of Sri Lanka or the sole shiny pebble on regional strands.