China Harbour Engineering Company has deployed dredgers to mine sand off the coast to reclaim 269 hectares along the shoreline for the Colombo Port City project. The first blocks of land reclaimed from the sea will be available for construction in early 2019. Up to 40% of the reclaimed land will be leased to the Chinese firm developing the project for 99 years. Sri Lanka’s government will get 60% of the land for its own use, which will include 60 hectares of commercially usable land.

4km

minimum distance from the shoreline for sand dredging

15m

minimum depth of seabed from where sand can be excavated

3m

thickness of the seabed sand layer that can be removed