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

Sri Lanka moves to free prime property in capital

 Prime property in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo could be made available to private developers when the government goes ahead with a planned shift of state institutions, including defence, to the suburbs, officials said.


"We're waiting for the green light," said an official of the Urban Development Authority, which is in charge of urban planning.
The government has decided all administrative functions must go to Sri Jayawardenepura, a new city west of Colombo, he said.
"We will not keep a single government entity in Colombo."
The new city was planned as the administrative capital, leaving Colombo, where most companies have their offices, as the commercial capital.

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Source: LBO

Boom times for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's hotel owners are racing to refurbish and add thousands more rooms as foreign holidaymakers pour into the country after the end of nearly four decades of ethnic bloodshed.


Leading hotel groups plan to spend millions of dollars on new decor and facilities for the influx of tourists drawn to the plentiful sunshine, beaches and tropical wildlife on the Indian Ocean island nation.

The ambitious expansion comes amid a post-war revival that has pushed up hotel room rates and given the hospitality industry something to cheer for the first time in years.


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(Source: iafrica.com)

Lumiére Residencies receives CMA certification

Lumiére Residencies, a Sri Lanka Board of Investment approved project developed by DGS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd and designed by associate company Design Group Five International (Pvt) Ltd, was recently awarded the Certificate of Conformity from the Colombo Municipal Council and the Condominium Management Authority (CMA) Certification. The Certificate of Conformity (CoC) is a statement of quality that declares that the building meets all stringent statutory requirements as per approved plans for architecture, structure, electrical systems, water supply & drainage system, and solid waste disposal and fire fighting systems. More>> Source: Sunday Times

Top Real Estate Broker Admits Dodging Taxes

The Sunday Leader has uncovered shocking new evidence of how expatriate-owned real estate brokers help foreigners buy valuable property on the island without paying the mandatory 100 percent transfer tax that was enacted in 2005. Over the past decade, foreigners have bought up massive swaths of Sri Lankan beachfront property, displacing local inhabitants and inflating real estate prices to unprecedented levels.

Most foreigners buy the property as an investment, hoping to re-sell it later for a hefty profit. The most valuable and hotly-traded property is located around Galle, from Bentota to Matara, but numerous expat-owned real estate brokers also offer beachfront property around Trincomalee, Arugam Bay, Tangalle and Puttalam. With numerous real estate companies taking advantage of a tax loophole to quickly sell off land to outside investors, the government appears content to let foreigners buy up the island from under its very nose.

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Source: Sunday Leader