. SLTDA refers controversial matter to Ministry
. Letter seeking advice sent on Thursday
By Madhusha Thavapalakumar
The Ministry of Tourism and Aviation is planning to obtain legal advice regarding an ownership issue over a land situated at Marble Beach in Trincomalee, according to Minister of Tourism and Aviation Prasanna Ranatunga.
The Ministry has decided to seek legal advice following a letter sent to them by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) on Thursday (25), requesting the Ministry's intervention to resolve the issue.
"We will seek legal opinion. All these years, the attempted acquisition by the SLTDA was not completed, maybe because there are some legal issues with the land. If SLTDA had never used the land, we can give it back to the original owner of the land," Ranatunga stated.
[caption id="attachment_89023" align="alignright" width="300"]
SLTDA Chairperson Kimarli Fernando[/caption]
Conflict of interest?
The 21-acre plot of land is located on Marble Beach in Trincomalee, a tourist hotspot, and in the Gravest Assistant Government Agent. In the past few days, certain website reports had alleged that SLTDA Chairperson Kimarli Fernando is now attempting to assign the land to her husband, Malik Fernando, a renowned hotelier, to build a hotel.
However, when we spoke to SLTDA Director General Dhammika Wijesinghe, she stated that whenever there is a discussion regarding this land at SLTDA, Fernando excuses herself due to the potential conflict of interest.
"When this was discussed at the Board, she didn't even sit at the Board. She left the room because she said ‘I won't be there as it is my husband who is trying to buy the land’," Wijesinghe said.
[caption id="attachment_89856" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Trinco Beach[/caption]
Long history
According to a board paper of SLTDA, in the terms of the powers vested in the Tourism Development Act of 1968, the Ceylon Tourist Board was to acquire this land. On behalf of the Tourist Board, the Trincomalee Government Agent had taken steps to acquire the land as per the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act of 1950.
However, due to unknown reasons, the acquisition procedure, which was under the control of the Trincomalee Government Agent then, had not been completed and no compensation had been paid for any claimants. The said land had not been used for the purpose of tourism or tourism-related projects, even though it had been declared in the name of the Ceylon Tourist Board since 1982.
The board paper further stated that one reason for this could be the incomplete acquisition process where no documents pertaining to the handing over or taking over of the land are available either at the Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat or Sri Lanka Tourism.
Ponniah’s claim
Meanwhile, a person named Rohan Ponniah from Trincomalee appeared as the legal claimant for the above land and submitted an appeal to the SLTDA, requesting to give the consent for him to obtain legal clearance for the land through the Ministry of Lands and Land Development, as he wanted to utilise it for a tourism project in collaboration with Resplendent Ceylon.
Accordingly, SLTDA has had meetings regarding this land matter in the SLTDA office as well as in the office of former State Minister Susantha Punchinilame, MP to the Trincomalee area, who was very keen on getting the tourism project for that region, according to the board paper.
The last meeting in this regard was held on 28 February 2020 at the office of Minister Ranatunga. Based on the discussions therein, the Divisional Secretariat of Trincomalee town and Gravest Division, referring to a letter sent by claimant Rohan Ponniah, made a written request of the SLTDA Director General via a letter dated 10 March 2020, asking to refer the issue to the Ministry of Land with the current stand of the SLTDA in order to close this long-overdue land matter.
Since the said land refers to an incomplete land acquisition process, and also by considering the fact that the land was requested for a worthy high-end tourism project, SLTDA was willing to co-operate with the request, the board paper adds.
However, due to the fact that the current claimant’s name was not indicated in the Survey General’s map at the initial stage of acquisition, it was suggested to give SLTDA’s consent for the Ministry of Land to proceed with the necessary steps to ensure the release of the land to its legal owners.
The Board of the SLTDA, after noting the above details and information, had approved of SLTDA giving consent to the Ministry of Land through the Ministry of Tourism to deal with the claimant of the land lot No. 286 of the final village plan 26 in the Marble Beach area of the Trincomalee District to release it to the legal owner for developing a worthy tourism project.
[caption id="attachment_83174" align="alignright" width="300"]
Malik Fernando[/caption]
Dilmah’s letter
Meanwhile, in a letter to Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation Siri Hettiarachchi on 24 June, Malik Fernando has clarified the allegations levelled against him and his wife.
According to the letter, the Dilmah luxury hotel in Trincomalee is not in Marble Beach and the land has never been owned by the government. He purchased the land from an individual in 2017, the letter adds.
Clarifying the need for SLTDA’s intervention at the moment, the letter went on to state: "When the buyer’s lawyers were searching the pedigree of the land, they noted that in 1978, 50 years ago, there was a gazette to take the land for tourism development that was aborted and did not proceed. The buyer’s (Dilmah) lawyers wanted a letter from the Tourist Board to be extra careful before making payment to the seller."
Malik Fernando had first approached the SLTDA on this matter in 2017, but the SLTDA had not responded to these requests and the hotel project was delayed by three years. Then, a board paper was issued in 2020 as he kept following up to confirm before he made the payment to the seller, according to Malik Fernando’s letter.
The letter adds that this has been put on social media to “falsely sling mud” at his wife and to “embarrass the government”. Upon the acquisition of the land, Malik Fernando said he hoped to build a luxury hotel similar to the other three “globally award-winning hotels” that Dilmah has built.
By Madhusha Thavapalakumar
The Ministry of Tourism and Aviation is planning to obtain legal advice regarding an ownership issue over a land situated at Marble Beach in Trincomalee, according to Minister of Tourism and Aviation Prasanna Ranatunga.
The Ministry has decided to seek legal advice following a letter sent to them by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) on Thursday (25), requesting the Ministry's intervention to resolve the issue.
"We will seek legal opinion. All these years, the attempted acquisition by the SLTDA was not completed, maybe because there are some legal issues with the land. If SLTDA had never used the land, we can give it back to the original owner of the land," Ranatunga stated.
[caption id="attachment_89023" align="alignright" width="300"] SLTDA Chairperson Kimarli Fernando[/caption]
Conflict of interest?
The 21-acre plot of land is located on Marble Beach in Trincomalee, a tourist hotspot, and in the Gravest Assistant Government Agent. In the past few days, certain website reports had alleged that SLTDA Chairperson Kimarli Fernando is now attempting to assign the land to her husband, Malik Fernando, a renowned hotelier, to build a hotel.
However, when we spoke to SLTDA Director General Dhammika Wijesinghe, she stated that whenever there is a discussion regarding this land at SLTDA, Fernando excuses herself due to the potential conflict of interest.
"When this was discussed at the Board, she didn't even sit at the Board. She left the room because she said ‘I won't be there as it is my husband who is trying to buy the land’," Wijesinghe said.
[caption id="attachment_89856" align="alignleft" width="300"] Trinco Beach[/caption]
Long history
According to a board paper of SLTDA, in the terms of the powers vested in the Tourism Development Act of 1968, the Ceylon Tourist Board was to acquire this land. On behalf of the Tourist Board, the Trincomalee Government Agent had taken steps to acquire the land as per the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act of 1950.
However, due to unknown reasons, the acquisition procedure, which was under the control of the Trincomalee Government Agent then, had not been completed and no compensation had been paid for any claimants. The said land had not been used for the purpose of tourism or tourism-related projects, even though it had been declared in the name of the Ceylon Tourist Board since 1982.
The board paper further stated that one reason for this could be the incomplete acquisition process where no documents pertaining to the handing over or taking over of the land are available either at the Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat or Sri Lanka Tourism.
Ponniah’s claim
Meanwhile, a person named Rohan Ponniah from Trincomalee appeared as the legal claimant for the above land and submitted an appeal to the SLTDA, requesting to give the consent for him to obtain legal clearance for the land through the Ministry of Lands and Land Development, as he wanted to utilise it for a tourism project in collaboration with Resplendent Ceylon.
Accordingly, SLTDA has had meetings regarding this land matter in the SLTDA office as well as in the office of former State Minister Susantha Punchinilame, MP to the Trincomalee area, who was very keen on getting the tourism project for that region, according to the board paper.
The last meeting in this regard was held on 28 February 2020 at the office of Minister Ranatunga. Based on the discussions therein, the Divisional Secretariat of Trincomalee town and Gravest Division, referring to a letter sent by claimant Rohan Ponniah, made a written request of the SLTDA Director General via a letter dated 10 March 2020, asking to refer the issue to the Ministry of Land with the current stand of the SLTDA in order to close this long-overdue land matter.
Since the said land refers to an incomplete land acquisition process, and also by considering the fact that the land was requested for a worthy high-end tourism project, SLTDA was willing to co-operate with the request, the board paper adds.
However, due to the fact that the current claimant’s name was not indicated in the Survey General’s map at the initial stage of acquisition, it was suggested to give SLTDA’s consent for the Ministry of Land to proceed with the necessary steps to ensure the release of the land to its legal owners.
The Board of the SLTDA, after noting the above details and information, had approved of SLTDA giving consent to the Ministry of Land through the Ministry of Tourism to deal with the claimant of the land lot No. 286 of the final village plan 26 in the Marble Beach area of the Trincomalee District to release it to the legal owner for developing a worthy tourism project.
[caption id="attachment_83174" align="alignright" width="300"] Malik Fernando[/caption]
Dilmah’s letter
Meanwhile, in a letter to Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation Siri Hettiarachchi on 24 June, Malik Fernando has clarified the allegations levelled against him and his wife.
According to the letter, the Dilmah luxury hotel in Trincomalee is not in Marble Beach and the land has never been owned by the government. He purchased the land from an individual in 2017, the letter adds.
Clarifying the need for SLTDA’s intervention at the moment, the letter went on to state: "When the buyer’s lawyers were searching the pedigree of the land, they noted that in 1978, 50 years ago, there was a gazette to take the land for tourism development that was aborted and did not proceed. The buyer’s (Dilmah) lawyers wanted a letter from the Tourist Board to be extra careful before making payment to the seller."
Malik Fernando had first approached the SLTDA on this matter in 2017, but the SLTDA had not responded to these requests and the hotel project was delayed by three years. Then, a board paper was issued in 2020 as he kept following up to confirm before he made the payment to the seller, according to Malik Fernando’s letter.
The letter adds that this has been put on social media to “falsely sling mud” at his wife and to “embarrass the government”. Upon the acquisition of the land, Malik Fernando said he hoped to build a luxury hotel similar to the other three “globally award-winning hotels” that Dilmah has built.