Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe contradicted an earlier statement by cabinet spokesman Dr.Rajitha Senaratne and told parliament here on Friday, that the controversial US$ 1. 4 billion Chinese-funded Colombo Port City project had not been cleared, and that it is being reviewed.

“There are many issues regarding the port city project. Therefore when this government came to power, I got down all the files relating to this project. When I inspected them, I found that all the required reports are not there. There is a deficiency in the EIA. Therefore, to inquire into this, we have appointed a separate committee. In addition to that, under my chairmanship we have appointed a cabinet subcommittee. After getting reports, we will take a decision. We will inquire and then take that committee's report into consideration and take a decision. And at that stage we will inform this House,” Wickremesinghe said.

The Prime Minister’s clarification came a day after cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told the media that the Port City project had been found to be basically sound, and that only one environmental aspect remained to be studied.

Senaratne had also said that the Prime Minister had felt that the project should be allowed to go through for the sake of good relations with China. The China Communication Construction Company, which is executing the project, is a Chinese government owned enterprise.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has adhered to President Maithripala Sirisena policy of reviewing all Chinese funded and executed projects. These projects faced allegations of over invoicing and corruption.   Sirisena had promised such reviews when he was standing for the Presidential election held last month.