Instructions from PM to stop acquisition of lands in the Colombo District by force and evacuation of residents from their houses

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the Urban Development Authority chairman to immediately stop acquiring Colombo District lands by force and evacuating people from their houses under the pretext of development.

Issuing a communiqué the Prime Minister said that if land acquisition was necessary a systematic humane methodology should be formulated with the participation of the MPs and advice of civil society of the area.

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(Source: Hiru News)

Casino Ban Fails to Deter Developer’s Postwar Sri Lanka Plan

A ban on casinos by Sri Lanka’s new government isn’t stopping the nation’s biggest conglomerate from pressing ahead with a $850 million development project as the island rebuilds from a 30-year civil war.

Lenders are fully committed to John Keells Holdings Plc.’s Waterfront Properties mixed development project in Colombo though the absence of a casino may take some sheen off it and dent revenue, Chairman Susantha Ratnayake said in an interview.

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(Source: Ada Derana)

Biz community renews calls for revised Land Act

Sri Lanka’s business community renewed their calls to revisit the controversial Land Act enacted by the former regime limiting foreigners and foreign-owned corporates to outright owning lands, as it acts as a major deterrent to lure the much-needed foreign direct investments (FDIs). 

“We are of the view that the ambiguity inherent in the Act and the uncertainty it creates as a result will be deterrents to capital formation and foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka and therefore, require urgent review,” John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) Chairman Susantha Ratnayake said in his annual review. 

The Land (Restrictions on Alienation) Act was passed in Parliament last October limiting the purchase of land by foreigners and entities with over 50 percent of foreign ownership with retrospective effect from January 1, 2013. 

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(Source: Daily Mirror)

Singaporean firm steps in again to rejuvenate Colombo city development plan

A Singapore urban development consulting company, Cesma International re-branded as Surbana, is now engaged in Colombo city master-planning and redevelopment work to build a ‘megapolis’ in Sri Lanka’s Western Province, Urban Development Authority Chairman Ranjth Fernando told the Business Times.

According to the proposal, Fort, Pettah, Kollupitiya and Maradana with a total land area of over 1,033 hectares were envisaged as the New Downtown containing the Business and the Financial District. Slave Island and Galle Road were to be the shopping areas.

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(Source: Sunday Times)

“Kadawunu Poronduwa”: Krrish breaks its promise, again!

The Board of Investment (BOI), with Krrish failing to fulfil its latest promise of completing the full payment by March on leasing the 4-acre Transworks Square land in Colombo Fort, is considering several options including legal avenues to recover the payment or end the project.

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(Source: Sunday Times)

Go-ahead given to stalled TATA housing project in Slave Island

Construction work on the US$429.5 million mixed development and housing project at Slave Island undertaken by India’s Tata housing, the real estate arm of the Tata, is now underway.

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(Source: Sunday Times)

Shangri-La Residences debuts in Colombo

Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Group launched its luxury residential project on Friday at Galle Face Colombo eyeing to tap local and foreign buyers for exclusive residences in the city, officials of the company said. Construction work on the two 50 floor residential structures is now underway and will be completed in 2018, a spokesman of Shangri-La Hotels Lanka Ltd said. 

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(Source: Sunday Times)