Even as Sri Lanka, like much of the rest of the world, is plagued still by the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s energy is being sapped by the ongoing controversy over the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill presented to Parliament last week. Under the nation’s law, every new Bill has to be cleared by the Supreme Court before Parliament votes on it, and a five-Judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, is seized of the matter, and the court’s observations are expected early on.
Along with the Hambantota Port Project, the Colombo Port City special economic zone (SEZ) became controversial at birth, both for Chinese involvement and the hyper-secrecy of the post-war government of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, now Prime Minister. Despite internal differences, the successor government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed to have sanitised the SEZ after the latter had declared its imminent cancellation if the combine won the presidency in 2015—which it did.