Two international duty-free operators and an international food and beverage operator have confirmed their investment in the proposed duty-free shopping mall in the Colombo Port City. Operations will commence in April next year.
It will also be the first Downtown Duty-Free Mall in Sri Lanka and in the region. The interior fit-out will begin soon after the infrastructure work is completed.
The USD 7 million downtown duty-free mall infrastructure work will be completed this month and a further investment of USD 6.5 million is in the pipeline for the expansion of Duty-Free operations, which will not only become another tourist attraction but also position Colombo on the map as a promising shopping destination in the region.
The duty-free trading facility will be operated by two of the world’s leading Duty-Free operators and is the key feature to test the waters in a quest to position Colombo as a regional shopping destination similar to Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
The Duty-Free shopping mall inside Colombo Port City aims to be the biggest duty-free mall in the region, which will first open as an ‘IKEA Style Warehouse Model’ shopping mall and will move to a competitive shopping complex in the next five years.
With the investment plans for entertainment and leisure activities, Colombo Port City is expected to be a destination for city tourism. Of the total committed investment of USD 1.4 billion by the project company, USD 1.2 billion has already been invested.
Colombo Port City has lined up over USD 1.5 billion in investments into the upcoming vertical developments within Colombo Port City which includes the project company’s commitment for further investment of USD 500 million for the Colombo International Financial Centre Phase 1.
The infrastructure work of the Port City Colombo project is planned to be completed by the third quarter of 2023.
Those significant investments such as the Port City can contribute greatly to a resurgent Sri Lankan economy. Globally recognised brands will enter Colombo Port City to cater to investors and expatriates residing in Colombo Port City.
Attracting foreign direct investment and promoting exports and industrialisation would be one of the major attractions of the Port City while it will be supporting wider economic reform strategy. PCC has provided over 8,000 employment opportunities during the construction period and will create over 83,000 quality jobs in the future, accommodating an overall living population 273,000.
The Port City Colombo is an important section of China’s Belt & Road Initiative; in midst of CPEC in the Arabian Sea and the Myanmar corridor in the Bay of Bengal, it connects the world’s biggest manufacturing plants in Chinese mainland to the Indian Ocean via land-based corridors feeding the trade needs of the East-West shipping route.