The Sri Lankan government has announced that it will commence work this month on Western Region Megapolis Project (WRMP).
Colombo, Gampaha and Kaluthara districts will be merged and a cluster of towns and cities will be created with new infrastructure to attract foreign investment as a part of the new “flagship project.”
The project involves clearing land for the development of financial districts, shopping complexes, hotels, condominiums and leisure parks, as well as improved harbour and airport infrastructure.
WRMP Minister Champika Ranawaka told the media that the project will start in parts of Colombo and 23 townships and include minimising road congestion and flooding problems, as well as new parks.
The WRMP is more ambitious than the project initiated by former President Mahinda Rajapakse, who promised to convert Colombo into a major South Asian commercial and tourist hub. The Urban Development Authority (UDA) was brought under the control of the defence ministry secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the president’s brother, who employed military methods to clear land ear-marked for investors.
The Rajapakse government’s plan was mainly concentrated on Colombo.
The new WRMP will on the other hand go beyond Colombo to include three districts with a combined population of six million.
To be completed in three phases between 2016 and 2030, the project will see an investment of US $ 40 billion in new   infrastructure. Low taxes and cheap labour are Sri Lanka’s USP. Will this be enough to attract foreign investors? Opinion is divided.
Wickremesinghe said he has developed the plan in 2004 on the advice of Singapore’s legendary leader Lee Kuan Yew.
Officially launching the project on January 29, Wickremesinghe declared: “The world is supporting us today. We have to utilise the foreign aid and attract more investments by grabbing this opportunity.” His reference is to the changed American mood since the regime change in Colombo and its reorientation of foreign policy away from China. The Sirisena and Wickremesinghe coalition has scaled down multi-billion Chinese investments that the Rajapakse regime had secured for various ventures, particularly the construction of the Colombo Port City Project.
Implementation of the Megapolis project will have several hiccups. More than 168,000 people, most of them poor and slum dwellers inhabit the project area. They need to be shifted and rehabilitated. WRMP minister Champika Ranawaka has admitted the enormity of the problem but told the state-run Daily News on January 29 that housing would be provided to the people to be displaced.
The government would ensure quality of life in dignity to the slum dwellers, he stated but remained economical on details.
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