Casinos, Krrish: Yapa gives his update

Saturday, 11 January 2014 07:59 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe The Government on Thursday denied it was giving permission for three large-scale casinos to be operated as part of hotel projects valued at $ 1.3 billion and defended the stalled Krrish and Shangri-la projects. Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene insisted that the Government had agreed to not allow casino operations after listening to protests from the Opposition and religious leaders.

The three projects that have been approved are a $ 350 million integrated resort project by Australian casino mogul James Packer, a $ 300 million resort by local tycoon Dhammika Perera called Queensbury, and the largest venture $ 650 million by local conglomerate John Keells Holdings (JKH). These three hotel projects will be established as “mixed development” projects complete with shopping malls and conference facilities. However, previous plans to include casinos within their premises have been scratched, Abeywardene insisted. However, the Government had previously stated that existing casino licenses could be transferred to the three projects and Opposition politicians have charged that loopholes exist in the regulations to establish casinos at a later date. “The investors are very happy about this decision. We are a Government that listens to all our stakeholders. These projects have no connection to casinos. If casinos are started in the future, then we will deal with it then,” the Minister added. Abeywardena also defended the Shangri-la and Krrish deals despite acknowledging that the Government was yet to get the final payments for the latter. “We have signed agreements that clearly state a four-year period for the construction and launch of each project. As long as they do it during that time, we are not losing out. Shangri-la has told us that they are fast-tracking construction from January and the piling has started.” On the Krrish project, the Minister stressed that 84% of the payment has been made and if the project is stalled, then the Cabinet can decide to break off the agreement and give the land to a new company. “In any country one or two investments can go wrong. But there is over two years for the Krrish project to be completed so we will take decisions as appropriate.”