First foreign investment project to be launched under president Gotabaya Rajapaksa

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The first foreign investment under the new government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be launched soon. Issuing a release, the Ministry of Finance, Economy and Policy Development said US$ 250 million mixed project of a 30 storied commercial tower with 700 residences will be built. This investment will be made on a plot of land located between the Beira lake and Shangri-la hotel on Baladhaksha Mawatha in Colombo, by a foreign investor Perennial Real Estate Holdings. Perennial Real Estate Holdings Limited founded in 2002 is a Singapore based integrated real estate and healthcare company. The commercial tower will also have facilities for retail and food outlets. The cabinet of ministers approved the proposal made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Finance, Economy and Policy Development to facilitate investment activities for the relevant company. According to the release, with the signing of the agreement soon, the land for the project will be leased out to the company and the government of Sri Lanka will receive US$ 43 million as the payment for the leasing. A proposal similar to this mixed project of US$ 250 million was presented during the previous regime as well. Interestingly, both proposals contain the same investor and the same land has been suggested for the project. State minister of Tea Industry Development Kanchana Wijesekara, who was representing the opposition at the time, spoke about this matter in August 2018. Kanchana Wijesakara, State Minister of Tea Industry Development: Just a couple of months ago Minister Malik Samarawickrema brought an amazing proposal to cabinet. It was an amendment proposal for a mixed development project on a state-owned land down Baladaksha Mawatha between Beira lake and Shangri la hotel, which will be implemented by Perennial Real Estate Holdings Limited. This was among the land acts presented last week. This act was presented not for anything else but to give the ownership of this land to the Singaporean company Perennial Real Estate Holdings Limited. The state valuation for this is Rs 12.5mn per perch. Think about how it will be in another 8 years. Won't the value of the land in this country rise? We believe if there was a need to lease out land like this, tenders could've been called for a much better price." As mentioned by the state minister, did the current government hand this project over to this investor, after calling tenders? People of this country are not aware of an instance where tenders were called, during the previous month. Would it not be better governance if this government made a clarification to the people in this regard.