• Yet to hear from SOE Restructuring Unit: Dr. Ravihansa 
• Restructuring Unit declines to comment
• Project at standstill with $ 100 m required for completion

It is uncertain whether the controversial Grand Hyatt Hotel in Colombo will be a part of the restructuring plans formulated by the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) Restructuring Unit under the Ministry of Finance.

All construction is currently in limbo, awaiting instructions from the Government on the exact method of procuring the required $ 100 million for the completion of the remaining work.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Canwill Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. Managing Director and Senior Architect Dr. Ravihansa Chandratilake revealed that construction of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Colombo was currently at a standstill due to the absence of any instructions from the Government regarding the method via which the requisite $ 100 million for the completion of the project was to be procured. 

He further revealed that they were unaware whether the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Colombo was part of the SOE restructuring plans being formulated by the newly-formed SOE Restructuring Unit headed by Suresh Kumar Shah.

“We have not received any information on whether the Grand Hyatt is part of the SOE restructuring plan. We are awaiting a reply. We have written to the Government and are currently awaiting a reply from it,” he stated.

When The Sunday Morning Business reached out to Founding CEO of Lion Brewery and current Chairman of Ceylon Tobacco Company Suresh Kumar Shah for clarification on the situation, he declined to comment.

Chandratilake in December 2022 revealed to The Sunday Morning Business that all construction at the Grand Hyatt Hotel had been halted due to the difficulty in obtaining the necessary foreign exchange and that only around 55% of the construction work had been completed at the time, with a further $ 100 million required to complete the remainder.

The Grand Hyatt Hotel project in Colombo, together with its sister project Hyatt Regency Hotel in Hambantota, has been mired in controversy since its inception in 2012. 

While the Board of Directors of Helanco Hotels & Spa (Pvt) Ltd. – a subsidiary of Canwill Holdings – decided in 2015 to abandon the project to construct the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Hambantota in the face of allegations regarding financial fraud, the construction of the 47-storey five-star Grand Hyatt Hotel in Colombo featuring 458 guestrooms and 100 serviced apartments continued despite numerous delays and cost overruns.