Colombo

CHINA will invest US$1 billion in the construction of three 60-storey buildings at a mega-project near Sri Lanka's main port as Beijing aims to boost its influence in the Indian Ocean.

The deal follows an earlier Chinese investment of US$1.4 billion to carry out reclamation work for the wider Colombo International Financial City development, strategically located next to Sri Lanka's harbour, the only deep-sea container port in the region.