City within a city to be completed in 2013

By Cheranka Mendis

Sri Lanka’s single largest mixed real investment project, Havelock City will be fully completed by 2013 with an investment of USD 350 million.

The project which will be constructed under different phases with the residential component comprising four phases and each phase completing 25 per cent of the total development of apartments has seen the completion of its initial phase of residential units in end 2009. Current piling is being done for the second residential phase. At present project has 226 apartments on 22 levels. The towers named Elibank and Park Towers have been in occupation since January this year and is nearly sold out, officials said on Wednesday.

The development of Havelock City has been undertaken by Mireka Capital Land (PVT) Ltd a joint venture between Overseas Reality (Ceylon) Plc and the Bank of Ceylon (BOC).

According to the plan eight towers consisting of apartments were to be constructed in four phases. Each phase would comprise two towers. The total number of apartments when completed will stand at 1080.

Unveiling the revised and aggressive development plan in Colombo’s largest cleared site, Chairman of Overseas Reality S. P. Tao, the developers, stated that the infrastructure for the entire four million square feet of development was already in place and that all work will be completed within the next 36 months. Phase two of the residential towers will commence construction early next year and would see the construction of 854 apartments in total.

A club house featuring two lap pools, multipurpose hall and other leisure and recreational activities will be completed by the end of 2011. The complex is also said to have the largest roof top garden in residential development in the country which spans across six acres.

The garden which will be constructed approximately 30 feet above ground and will sit on a concrete deck above the car park, architects for the Havelock City Project East China Architectural Design and research Institute (ECADI) said yesterday when the designs of the final phase of the project were revealed. “The innovative architectural and landscaping design techniques will allow trees as tall as 30 to 45 feet to be grown in the garden. This is a natural green space which is essentially a new park in the heart of Colombo,” the architects stated.

The commercial component which comprises a 400, 000 sq.ft. Shopping mall, Sri Lanka’s largest shopping mall, a cinema along with two office towers with 25 floors each will be developed in a single phase. Construction work of the commercial towers will start mid next year and will be fully completed by 2013.

The project which started in 2005 was temporarily haltered due to the non-viability in the local economical conditions backed by the war conditions. The product was reactivated when the country’s stability was starting to resonate.