Police team probes illegal State land acquisitions

IGP promises tough action against offenders

The police team appointed by Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya to probe fraudulent land deals has commenced investigations on a few cases of alleged illegal acquisition of State and private land. Highly placed police sources have confirmed to the Sunday Times that priority has been given to the illegal acquisition of and encroachment on State land. However the police have so far received only a few complaints of private land related frauds. The sleuths from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Police Crimes Division which comes under the Deputy Inspector General of Crime have begun to peruse documents which they have received relating to State land acquisitions. More>> (Source: Sunday Times)

BOI gearing to unblock state land for investment

The Board of Investment (BOI), under its new chairman Jayampathi Bandaranayake, plans to cut the red-tape investors face when trying to procure state land for their investments.

He said that now many ministries are clubbed together in a meaningful manner and that BOI together with relevant agencies is looking at how to harmonise their functions. “We are focussed on the same vision and we will operationalise it, because the issues with land will retard what is essentially possible,” he added. “The biggest issue (that investors face when trying to invest) is trying to secure land. We’re trying to see how to unblock state land,” he told the Business Times on the sidelines of his first press conference on Wednesday.

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Source: Sunday Times

Sri Lanka Overseas Realty starts expansion drive

Sri Lanka's Overseas Realty Ceylon, a unit of Singapore's Shing Kwan group, is pushing ahead with Colombo's largest property project amid renewed buying interest in apartments after the end of a 30-year war. Overseas Realty owns Colombo's World Trade Centre building which houses the Colombo Stock Exchange and is jointly developing Havelock City, an 18-acre block of land with state-run Bank of Ceylon.

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Source: LBO

May Day 2012 rally will overlook 500 acres of new land beyond Galle Face Green, says President

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said he will be redrawing the map of Sri Lanka with the massive development projects the government plans to launch in the coming years. These include reclaiming 500 acres of land from the sea off the Colombo coast, along the Galle Face Green.

“Two years from now the May Day celebrations will be held at the Galle Face Green, overlooking the reclaimed land,” the President told a United People’s Front Alliance rally at the Colombo Town Hall last evening.

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Source: Sunday Times