Sri Lanka to launch 39 acre Bird Park in Colombo at a cost of Rs. 1.5 billion
Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Ministry has reportedly launched the construction of a 39-acre bird park in Colombo at an estimated cost of Rs 1.51 billion to revive tourism.
The park is to be built on a design-build-finance-and-operate basis and will be completed by 2025 and a private sector investor was selected for the project, according to local media reports.
The park is to be built on 39 acres of marshy land in Madiwela owned by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) with the objective of turning it into a global tourist attraction.
“Today, the wetland is under great threat and destruction due to unauthorised encroachment by residents, dumping of sewage, the connection of sewage systems to the canals flowing through the wetland and unauthorised filling.
“In order to protect this wetland and to keep the canals flowing through this wetland directly connected to the Diyawanna Oya clean, the Colombo Bird Park Project is to be constructed within 24 months centring on the Madiwela wetland,” the Ministry has noted in a statement.
According to the statement, the park is planned to be a fully-fledged wetland park with bird shows, exotic and local bird watching opportunities, water parks, forest parks and restaurants.
“It is also proposed to complete all constructions in a manner to protect the Madiwela wetland which is currently being destroyed and to develop only 02% of the wetland while the rest of the land will be developed in an eco-friendly manner in accordance with the design plan of the park,” the statement has further noted.
“Based on the 30-year lease value determined by the chief government assessor, an experienced private sector investor was selected for the project in accordance with the government procurement guidelines to construct the park on a Design, Build, Finance and Operate basis,” it has added.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka is engaged in an aggressive development programme aimed at taking the country to the next level of development. The country is also emerging as a business hub in the South Asian region including a maritime and travel hub in the region. Sri Lanka therefore is in need of further developing new attractions to woo visitors. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore explore business/investment opportunities in the country in preparing it to meet the growing demand.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/05072021/Z_8 |