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Thursday, 12 September 2013 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Despite speculation of facing delays, Shangri La Hotels and Resorts on Monday made a credible case for investing in Sri Lanka at a forum of investors and fund managers in Hong Kong.
“We do plan to invest more than half-a-billion US Dollars in two major projects in Colombo and Hambantota. That itself is a very significant vote of confidence in the country,” Shangri La Hotels and Resorts Vice Chairman Madhu Rao told the Invest Sri Lanka Forum organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Colombo Stock Exchange in partnership with Bloomberg.
Sharing Shangri-La’s experiences of investing in Sri Lanka, Rao told participants at Hong Kong Forum that three years ago through business 
associates the popular hotel brand was invited to look at Sri Lanka, which was just coming out of the civil strife endured for more than 30 years.
“We obviously realised that the fundamentals for the tourism sector were always in place there; a beautiful country, very warm and very friendly people, and a very successful tourism product, which had actually sort of had a temporary setback because there was no investment given the civil strife that was going on in the country. So when we realised that, Shangri-La engaged with the Government and all I can say with sincerity is that there was an openness and a willingness to engage and we saw a very, very investor-friendly environment on behalf of not only the highest level of the Government organisation, but at all levels of the Government administration,” Rao said.
He said Shangri La was privileged because of first-mover advantage to get pioneer investment status, which was actually approved by the Parliament.
“We were actually privileged to get a very, very attractive site in the heart of the country. And what more testimony can you ask for from a Government which relocated its military headquarters from the prime land in the middle of the city and gave it for commercial development, obviously trying to extract value in the process?” stressed.
“All I can say is the speed at which clearances were given was almost unparalleled in our experience over the last 20, 25 years in which we have done business in many countries around the world. And to this day, we find the Government to be very engaging, very receptive and at every stage will ask ‘what more can we do to make it easy for you to do business in this country?’ I think there is no further sort of testimony that I can give,” Rao said.
He said Shangri La is of the firm belief that Sri Lanka’s tourism sector has a major role to play in terms of the investment, the employment potential and the tourism multiplier and its effect on the overall economy.
“We have been very fortunate that we entered the country at the right time and we are very privileged that we are getting a very strong support from all levels of the Government,” Shangri La’s Vice Chairman emphasised.
