Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2020-03-04

Formation of a State Owned Property Development Entity

- Some of the most valuable hotels and other tourism related assets reside within the General Treasury, Employee's Provident Fund (EPF), Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC), Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) and the Bank of Ceylon. For instance, Hotels such as Grand Hyatt, Grand Oriental, Hilton as well as the Shopping Mall of the Lotus Tower.
It has been proposed to create a most valuable premium real - estate portfolio by bringing all such properties under a single entity and it has also been observed that there is a possibility of expanding the said entity by the inclusion of similar assets. Further, it would be easy to secure required funds for the development of such properties and assets through the proposed entity possessing valuable assets since it would not be optimal to use government revenue or government borrowings for the same. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economy and Policy Development to bring Canwill Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (Grand Hyatt), Hotel Developers Pvt. Ltd. (Hilton) and Grand Oriental Hotel under a single entity jointly owned by the General Treasury, Bank of Ceylon and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, was approved by the Cabinet.