Speaking, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs - Ajith P. Perera has said that the decision was taken after considering a cabinet paper submitted by Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Before the new government swept into power, Ranil Wickremesinghe had pledged to suspend the project during election campaigning activities of the then common candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

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The Cabinet approval was granted to suspend immediately the Chinese funded Colombo Port City Project, Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Rajitha Senaratne said today (05) while addressing the weekly cabinet briefing.

He pointed out that the Interim Report submitted by the committee appointed to review and submit recommendation to the Cabinet Sub Committee on the above referenced project has stated that they have noted that the project has been started and being implemented without relevant approvals from the concerned institutions.

Accordingly implementation of the project will be suspended and the relevant project company will be advised to present within a period of two weeks the approvals that had been obtained from the relevant institutions for the implementation of the Project, the Minister said.