| Sunday Island | ||
| February 27, 2005 | ||
| Bank contributes land and partner puts up cash | ||
| Shing Kwan and Bank of Ceylon Launch Lanka’s biggest real estate development | ||
| The country’s biggest property development project takes off on the former Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills site today when construction of Havelock City gets off the ground with piling work commencing at the auspicious time of 10.20 a.m. The real estate development described as the country’s largest is a joint venture between Singapore’s giant Shing Kwan group and the Bank of Ceylon with Shing Kwan putting up 60% of the total Rs.1.2 billion equity while the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) has subscribed the balance 40%. BOC’s contribution is the prime land of approximately 16 acres on which 3.2 million square feet of commercial and residential space in Colombo will be built, sources close to the project said. Shing Kwan is putting up the cash with the funding for the first two towers advanced. The project plan envisages two towers being built at a time with a 6-year timeframe tentatively fixed for the completion of the whole project. The government transferred the land to the bank in consideration of the non performing loans it was carrying in its books on government account with a value of Rs. 750 million placed for purposes of the deal. Asked whether this was not a low value for such prime property, a knowledgeable source explained that given that the land was transferred in its entirely and also that the project will pay for its own water supply, electricity and sewage without plugging into existing infrastructure as other similar large projects have done was a factor in the pricing. “The water and power alone on this project will cost Rs. 250 million,” he said. “That is a major plus on this project.” The piling contract has been awarded to a well known Singapore company, Singapore Piling and Civil Engineering (Pvt) Limited, which had handled many prestigious development projects both here and abroad. A new company, Mireka Capital Lanka (Pvt) Limited has been floated for the development. The major joint venture partner, Shing Kwan Management Limited are the development managers. The Shing Kwan group is the major shareholder of Overseas Realty (Ceylon) Limited who are managers and substantial owners of Colombo’s World Trade Center. Once developed, Havelock City, would be the largest single mixed development project to soar the Colombo skylines with 1,080 apartments, a 300-room hotel, 200 serviced apartments and a shopping mall with a variety of shops, a department store, Cineplex, supermarket, international food courts, cafes etc. This project will add 3.2 million square feet of commercial and residential space to Colombo. The housing part of the project is expected to be completed in four years depending on the marketing of the units. The developers admit that this may be ambitious but said that completion time would depend on demand. The cost of a residential unit has not yet been fixed but an informed guess placed it in the Rs. 10 to 16 million range depending on the unit type. “Havelock City” brings together an internationally acclaimed team of designers and consultants which include East and China Architectural Design & Research Institute Co. ltd. (ECADI) as the Design Consultant and Design Group Five International (Pvt) Ltd., of Sri Lanka as the local Architect and Consultants. The project’s unique eco-friendly landscaping will be designed by Design Group Five with Mr. Laki Senanayake and Ms. Shiranee Balasuriya,” a news release issued by the developers said. |
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