Buying condos in Colombo

At a seminar on condominiums in Colombo last week, a speaker drew surprise, worry and concern from participants when he showed pictures of some reputed apartment complexes in the city with badly maintained pipelines, power generators and poor construction.“Do you know that these are from well known complexes in the city?” asked engineer Upula Dharmawardena, DGM Projects at Walker and Sons Engineers, adding: “This is how they maintain the main pipelines.”

Speaking during a presentation at an interactive seminar on “Understanding the basics of Condominium Living” organized by the Centre for Advancement of Resource Mobilization (CARM) at the Taj Samudra in Colombo on Sunday, he showed many slides to an audience comprising condo residents, owners, developers and potential buyers showing weak construction, poorly maintained facilities among others suggesting that any prospective buyer of a condo needs to look at all maintenance issues before making that vital decision.

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(Source: Sunday Times)

Residential businesses on verge of collapse

Residences converted into business premises in local government authorities of Colombo and outside are on the verge of closing down amidst high service charges and commercial tax being levied by the authorities, businessmen complained.

Charges range from Rs. 150,000 to Rs. 500,000 per annum, they said.

They alleged that the Urban Development Authority (UDA) is taking action to allow the natural death of small businesses operating in residential areas by levying high service charges.

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(Source: Sunday Times)

Delft island attracts Rs.600 mln resort

Mercantile Merchant Bank Ltd through its Pathfinder venture would be investing nearly Rs.600 million in a 40 acre hotel resort project on the Delft island off Sri Lanka’s northern shore, an official of the organisation said.

Currently the organisation was seeking approval from the Northern Province Land Commission in addition to other relevant authorities in a bid to get the project off the ground.

It was pointed out that Delft island was considered for this project since it was a good location that was secluded with a small population.

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(Source: Sunday Times)

No word from Krrish on final payment, says Minister

India’s Krrish Group, despite government’s repeated extensions and reprieves, is still silent on the completion of its due payments to lease the 4.3 acre Transwork Square property in Colombo Fort, 21 months after signing an MOU with the Urban Development Authority (UDA).

Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene told reporters in Colombo on Thursday that the Krrish group or its local representatives have not made any representations on this matter to him or the BOI and he is awaiting a response from them.Five extensions have been given so far for the final payment of Rs.639.5 million to be made to close the land lease deal, he added.
The company has so far paid Rs. 4.3 billion of the Rs. 5 billion upfront lease rental.

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(Source: Sunday Times)