BRITISH IRISH VISHA SCHEME AND COLOMBO PORT CITY PROJECT

 The British Irish Visa Scheme

• The British Irish Visa Scheme came into force in India on 10 February 2015. The information related to this was revealed by Minister of State for External Affairs, VK Singh while answering the unstarred questions in Rajya Sabha on 12 March 2015.

• The scheme allows Indian nationals to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland on a single-visit visa from either country, on the same trip.

• Applicant can apply at one of the existing Visa Application Centres in India of Ireland & the UK.

• This scheme allows the holder of short-stay visa issued by the country of first arrival to travel freely between Ireland and the UK including Northern Ireland, for the duration of that visa.

 Sri Lanka temporarily suspended Colombo Port City Project of China

• Sri Lankan Government on 5 March 2015 temporarily suspended construction work of China’s port city project in Colombo with immediate effect.

• The decision was taken in Cabinet meeting chaired by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe based upon the Interim Report submitted by a cabinet sub-committee. The committee was appointed by the Sri Lankan Government to review the project.

• The decision was taken in Cabinet meeting chaired by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe based upon the Interim Report submitted by a cabinet sub-committee. The committee was appointed by the Sri Lankan Government to review the project.

• The Interim Report had alleged that this mega real estate deal with China was signed without following the proper procedures and was implemented without relevant approvals from the concerned institutions.
About Colombo Port City project

• Colombo Port City project is the single-largest foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka worth 1.5 billion US dollar. The project was inaugurated in September 2014 by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

• The project was signed by the then Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reclaim 233 hectares of land from the sea to build a port city on a 99-year lease.

• As part of the project, Chinese company was to develop commercial and entertainment hub which include shopping malls, water sports, golf, hotels, apartments and marinas.