Construction work resumes on Hyatt Regency
Sinolanka Hotel and Spa (Pvt) Ltd, the new public-private partnership
re-launched the construction of Hyatt Regency Colombo hotel.
A spokesman for the hotel said, “It will be the most modern hotel as
well as the tallest building in Colombo city”.
Chairman, Gamini Senarath said that Hyatt Regency, Colombo would add
475 hotel rooms to cater to the growing tourism sector and increasing
demand in the city.
Over the last 30 years not a single modern hotel has been constructed
in Colombo and as a result there is a scarcity of hotel rooms.
The 42-storeyed hotel complex consists of 90 luxury residential
suits, swimming pools, restaurants, conference halls and all other
facilities.
The project will be completed and commissioned by September 2013 and
the residential suits will be completed by 2014 August. Sinolanka Hotel
and Spa will make Colombo an attractive city for tourists, he said. With
475 hotel rooms Hyatt Regency will be the biggest hotel in Colombo. The
minimum floor area of a hotel room is 38 sq.m.
Special restaurants will be opened on the 30th floor while swimming
pools and club houses will be on the 42nd and 43rd floors. Hyatt Regency
will be a hotel with 54 percent of residential suits the highest in the
Colombo city while the rate is less than 7 percent in other hotels”,
project consultant, Hirantha Silva said. A private sector company
launched this hotel project in 2003 on state land under a long-term
leasing agreement.
According to the plan, the project was to be completed by 2008. But
due to a financial crisis, construction work was halted and the project
came to standstill.
In November 2011, the Government acquired the project under the
Under-performing and Under-utilised Private Enterprises Act. The new
project has been registered as a BOI approved project and is entitled
for tax relief and other investment support.
It is also recognised as a strategically important project under the
Ministry of Economic Development, which will remove many bureaucratic
bottlenecks.
Sinolanka Hotel and Spa (Pvt) Ltd has obtained the property on a 99
year long-term lease and the state-owned Sri Lanka Insurance Company is
the local partner representing the state sector with a Rs. 20b
investment.
Already 15 floors of the building have been completed and Maga
Engineering is doing construction work. Minister of Economic
Development, Basil Rajapaksa and Secretary to the Ministry of Defence
and Urban Development, Gotabaya Rajapaksa participated. Hyatt Regency is
one of the leading international hotel chains based in Hong Kong with
around 480 hotels.
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