China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) Chairman Bai Yinzhan met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Saturday morning and said the government’s “direct and visionary leadership” had significantly strengthened the company’s confidence in investing in Sri Lanka.
Bai commended the incentives granted to the Port City Colombo Special Economic Zone and the economic stability achieved under the current administration. CHEC is the lead developer of Port City Colombo and is also a contractor on Sri Lanka’s expressway network.
President Dissanayake said foreign direct investment was a key component of economic growth and that the government was fully committed to providing all facilities and support to encourage investment. He cited the policy stability achieved through the IMF-supported reform programme and the aim of developing Port City Colombo into a modern economic zone capable of attracting substantial international capital.
The President expressed appreciation for CHEC’s assistance to communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah in late November 2025. CHEC is among the foreign firms that contributed to relief efforts that have run through to the formal close of the UN cash-based humanitarian response in late May.
The meeting comes weeks after the President pitched a new Investment Protection Act and single-window investor platform and follows CHEC’s own Dubai roadshow co-hosting with the Port City Economic Commission. CHEC separately said last month it plans to recruit 2,000 Sri Lankan workers for the Al Maktoum International Airport expansion.
Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance Anil Jayantha Fernando, Commissioner General of Essential Services and Chief of Presidential Staff Prabath Chandrakeerthi, and CHEC General Manager Su Bo also attended the meeting.
