Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority (UDA) has so far not received detailed plans and recommendations from authorities to develop the state-owned colonial property, Visumpaya, located in Union Place, Colombo.
“We have still not received approval from a high-level committee on further initiatives,” UDA Real Estate and Land Management Deputy Director General E.A.C. Piyashantha told The Daily Morning Business, with regards to the long-coming, proposed plans to develop the property into a high-end boutique hotel.
The previous and current governments have spotlighted the property for its infrastructure conversion through public-private partnerships (PPPs), due to prime its location in the heart of the city.
“However, at a policy level there have already been some decisions made,” said Piyashantha.
Last week (29), President Anura Kumara Dissanayake called on the private sector to invest in converting Presidential and Ministerial bungalows across Nuwara Eliya, Anuradhapura, Mahiyanganaya and Kataragama into guest houses, for the purpose of bolstering the local tourism industry.
He emphasised that promotional campaigns alone cannot lead Sri Lanka towards meeting its tourism sector targets for 2026.
“Cabinet approval is yet to be received, for a committee to deliberate on whether such initiatives can move forward,” Piyashantha further clarified, speaking about the infrastructure project that is yet to be commercially used.
According to the Board of Investment’s (BOI) website page dedicated to the project, the Visumpaya project’s value is an estimated $ 35 million, and with expectations for commencement dating back to 2022.
Despite the project’s previous Japanese investor stalling financing of the project in 2024, a Cabinet decision released in December 2024, forwarded a proposal to develop the Visumpaya, among a host of other Ministerial and Presidential properties across the country.
“A large sum of money has been spent on the maintenance of the said government properties, irrespective of the fact that the said properties have been underutilised. Therefore, the joint proposal made by the President to propose an appropriate methodology, enabling utility of the said premises and residences more productively to gain economic benefits, was approved by the Cabinet,” the decision said.