Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued regulations on registering businesses who wish to operate in the Chinese-built Colombo Port City.
The president issued these regulations as the minister of finance, economic stabilization and national policies in an extraordinary gazette Wednesday night.
A person who wants to start a business in the Colombo Port City must send an application to the Colombo Port City Economic Commission (CPCEC) to obtain a license to qualify as an authorized person permitted to engage in a business.
The CPCEC after evaluating the application and supporting documents will issue a letter of approval in principle.
If the commission is satisfied that an applicant has fulfilled all legal and regulatory requirements and has complied with all the conditions set out in the letter of approval, it will issue a license to the applicant permitting the applicant to engage in business at the Colombo Port City.
The license is valid for a period of 12 months from the date of issue. However, the license will be canceled if the applicant does not commence a business within six months of the issue of the license.
The Colombo Port City, a large-scale project under the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, is being established as a service-oriented special economic zone on 269 hectares of land reclaimed from the ocean and annexed to the city of Colombo.
