Shangri La breaks ground for 661room hotel in Colombo

Shangri-La Asia Limited will invest 408 US$ million on this hotel project.  The star class hotel will have 661 rooms, 30 storied and the construction work is to be completed in 2015.
 

Shangri-La is also planning to construct it's second hotel in Hambantota to open in 2013, on approximately 115 acres of land with a 315 rooms with a  investment of 120 US$ million.

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(Source: News.lk)

Real estate changes hands via unreal deeds

Dubious land deals are on the increase with more and more cases piling up in courts, with some of the victims seeking the assistance of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe them. The frauds have sparked off a multitude of serious repercussions including that of banks unable to recover their loans granted for land purchases, incomplete constructions and victims losing millions of rupees.

Within three months of setting up, the CID’s special unit to probe land frauds has received more than 1,000 complaints with more coming in on a regular basis. “We have arrested four main gangs involved in land frauds, but more complaints are coming in “, a senior officer involved in the investigations told the Sunday Times.

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(Source: Sunday Times)

US Hilton to be asked to run Colombo Hilton

Colombo’s Hilton Hotel will be managed by its parent organisation in the United States and re-furbished to accommodate VVIPs when Commonwealth leaders meet for their summit in 2013, if a proposal now before the Cabinet is accepted.

It was barely four months ago that Hotel Developers Limited, the owning company, was taken over as an “underutilised” or “underperforming” venture in terms of a controversial law. Thereafter, a Competent Authority, who was appointed to oversee the working of the hotel, had recommended sweeping changes to a Cabinet Sub Committee headed by Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

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(Source: Sunday Times)