The Government parliamentary group met on Tuesday (21) under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The proposed legislation on the Colombo Port City was taken up for discussion at the meeting. Former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Priyath Bandu Wickrema had also been present at the meeting.

A State Minister had questioned whether there were two sections in the Port City as the Sri Lankan section and Chinese section. The President has responded saying there were no such sections in the Port City. “It is ours,” he had said.

Wickrema had explained to the group the workings of the Port City as well as the manner in which investments would be worked out in the area. “All transactions in the Port City will be in dollars,” he had added.

Hearing this statement, Wickremesinghe had smiled and said: “In vain, if Parliament was in the Port City, we could have also got paid in dollars.”