Sri Lanka’s iconic Altair completes first phase and inaugurated
Sri Lanka last week witnessed the opening of the first phase of Colombo city’s iconic residential apartment complex – Altair.
The inauguration was held under the patronage of Sri Lanka’s Urban Development, Coast Conservation, Waste Disposal and Community Cleanliness State Minister, Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms State Minister, Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay.
According to local media reports, Altair, by Indocean Developers Ltd., was the first project cleared by Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he was the Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development under the Special Development Projects Act, whilst Sririnimal Perera was the Chairman of the country’s Urban Development Authority (UDA).
The project was to be completed and handed over to the owners in 2017, but due to litigation between the developers and promoters, the project virtually ground to a halt in 2019 and President Rajapaksa’s intervention followed concerns expressed by buyers of the apartments as well as urban development planners.
In June last year President Rajapaksa stepped in as a progressive move to complete the multi-billion rupee, and the city’s iconic, high rise property development, the Daily FT news report stated.
The President had thereafter appointed urban development veteran and Colombo Hilton owning company Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC Chairman Sirinimal Perera, as the Special Authorised Officer to fast-track the completion of Altair.
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Urban Development and Housing Minister had also instructed to expedite the construction work and provide the houses to the people who have invested in them.
According to urban development experts, completing Altair, designed by world famous and award-winning architect Moshe Safdie, was important to improving the investor confidence, as well as the commercial and tourism profile of Sri Lanka.
Altair has been promoted as a one-of-its-kind development in South Asia, in terms of architectural design, structural engineering, and living experience. Safdie was also the architect for the world famous Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and was named Laureate of 2019 Wolf Prize in Architecture, considered to be the second-most important in the world after the Nobel Prize.
At 230m, the building will be one of the tallest buildings in Colombo. A 63-storey sloping tower leans into a taller, 68-storey, vertical tower, with a diagrid structure that visually accentuates the slope of the inclined stepped tower. The unique combination of a straight and a sloping tower gives the building the distinctive appearance that has made it an iconic element in Colombo’s rapidly changing skyline, local media reports added.
OSL take:
The opening of Altair is indicative of the positive movements in Sri Lanka’s economy following the impact of the global Covid 19 pandemic. Sri Lanka’s temporarily halted development programmes are back on track and the key economic sectors are in full force. The island is once again on the path to becoming a business hub in the South Asian region given its geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20210322/Z_1 |