Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Sri Lanka on Wednesday to inaugurate a hydropower plant and irrigation project, and on Friday Russia took control of part of the Chinese-built airport. These two signs indicate that other members of the Axis of Oppression are involved in cleaning up the wreckage. From the failure of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Sri Lanka is a prime example of a developing country seduced into crushing debt by the BRI. Belt and Road has a tendency to impose non-repayable loans on China’s client states for infrastructure projects that turn out to be far less profitable than promised.sri lanka is notorious personally delivered In 2017, it ceased managing the Hambantota port to China because it was unable to make Belt and Road loan payments.
After China took back the port as collateral, Sri Lanka’s finances continued to collapse. take the lead From financial collapse to rolling blackouts, fuel crises, and food shortages.
This aerial photo taken on May 6, 2021 shows a view of Hambantota International Port, Sri Lanka. (Liu Honru/Xinhua via Getty)
Another notorious Chinese-financed project in Sri Lanka is the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), a $209 million profiteering project that began operations in 2013 despite Sri Lanka’s low flight needs. It is an airport.
forbes dubbed it Rated as “the world’s busiest international airport” in 2016, with only a handful of planes arriving and departing each day, most of the facility’s traffic is simply “a stunning and perfectly located… He pointed out that these are tourists who just want to see a “modern airport.” of the jungle. ”
China just loaned former President Mahinda Rajapaksa around 5 billion yen to transform his hometown, the sleepy fishing village of Hambantota, into a glittering, ultra-modern wonder city with half of the buildings named after his family. It seemed like it took little effort to convince them that it could be fused. Raised dollars from Chinese banks to fund his vision.
China was eager to lure strategically important Sri Lanka away from its long-standing partnership with neighboring India and turn the island into a trading hub on the New Silk Road. The island is China’s effort to rebuild an ancient and legendary trade route.
The $5 billion loan had the support of Rajapaksa for a while, but most of the money was Had disappeared Construction of the airport was an environmental disaster, wiping out thousands of acres of elephant habitat and disrupting bird migration routes. Most of the flights announced with great fanfare at the dedication were quickly canceled, and the facility began to lose $18 million. one year. Several of the few planes that tried to use the airport were unable to land because migratory birds flew into the jet turbines, and the military was called in to chase away elephants and buffalo that tried to set up camp on the runway.
Sri Lankan Buddhist monks wait for the arrival of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala, Sri Lanka, Monday, March 18, 2013. (Thanka Gayashan, File/AP)
Angry Sri Lankan voters bounced back Mr. Rajapaksa resigned in 2015, and efforts to realign the island from India to China stalled. Sri Lanka defaults on its external debt in 2022 and has appealed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $2.9 billion bailout.
On Friday, statement Sri Lanka’s cabinet has announced that management of the controversial airport will be handed over to two private companies, India’s Shaurya Aeronautics and Russia’s Regional Airport Management Company, for the next 30 years. The Cabinet did not provide further details about the deal or what exactly the Russian and Indian companies planned to do at the airport, but the deal does mean that Sri Lanka will privatize many of its state-owned enterprises. It could help meet the IMF’s requirement to use the airport. government debt.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Raisi was in Colombo on Wednesday. cut the ribbon Uma Oya Hydropower Plant is a project started in 2010 with Iranian funding and technical assistance. When international sanctions cut off Iranian funding, Sri Lanka arranged to finance the remainder of the project itself. A combination of sanctions, technical issues and the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic delayed completion by almost a decade.
Nevertheless, Raisi sought to portray the hydroelectric power plant and adjacent irrigation network as a victory for Iran’s “knowledge and technology” over the West’s “colonialism and arrogance.”
“Our enemies did not want Iran to develop and progress… So the will and determination of the Iranian people came true, but our enemies were disappointed,” Raisi declared.
Raisi used part of the visit to awkwardly entertain his host, current Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe. rail Oppose Israel and demand concessions against Palestinian terrorism.
“When it comes [sic] When the oppressor comes [sic] “To the usurpers, the Zionist Israeli regime has been oppressing the Palestinian people for 75 years, and they continue to usurp territory,” Raisi gushed.
“First we must get rid of the usurpers. Second, we must make them pay for all the damage they have caused, and third, we must bring oppressors and usurpers to justice.” No,” he yelled.
Wickremesinghe indulged Raisi’s abuse. Sign Five Memorandums of Understanding on cooperation with Iran in tourism, science, technology, arts and sports.
