Supreme Court complex begins renovations with Chinese assistance

With the assistance of the Chinese Government, the renovation work of the Supreme Court complex is currently underway.

The signing of the total value estimation financial agreement was done in the Ministry of Justice auditorium on Thursday under the chairmanship of Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms, President’s Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong.

Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reform Secretary Nihal Ranasinghe, and Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka Counsellor Tang Yandi signed the relevant agreement.

Although the contract was signed on 23 April for the renovation of the Supreme Court complex with the assistance of the Chinese Government for an amount of 240 million Yuan, the estimated amount to be spent on the project is 229 million Yuan. Accordingly, the agreement was signed for the amount of 229 million yuan to be spent.

After the signing of the agreement, the Minister of Justice, the Chinese Ambassador and the officials of the Chinese Government and the Ministry of Justice went on an observation tour to investigate the renovation work of the Supreme Court complex.

“Whenever it faced challenges both nationally and internationally, the Government of China supported Sri Lanka. The Chinese government should be thanked for that. It must be said that the bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and China is a very long and successful relationship,” said Minister Rajapakshe.

Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said: “The granting of the Supreme Court complex by China to Sri Lanka in 1988 can be described as a special juncture in the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Currently, its renovation work is being done successfully. China supported Sri Lanka to recover from the COVID pandemic to get rid of the economic crisis and also to eradicate terrorism. The ambassador also said that it is expected to assist in providing excellent and efficient judicial service by carrying out the renovation works of the Supreme Court complex quickly and successfully.”