Restore functioning of postal services in original building of Colombo General Post Office

Tuesday, 7 January 2025 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Colombo General Post Office is functioning in a private building owned by the Islamic Cultural Centre on exorbitant rent while the original building is being earmarked for sale by the previous Government.

The original structure was designed by a British architect H.F. Tomalin of the Public Works Department in the year 1890. Construction was done by the famous Avasi Marikkar Wapachi Marikkar who constructed the National Museum building and the Colombo Fort Clock Tower. He was Sir Razik Fareed’s grandfather. The cost of the building was originally estimated at Rs. 300,000, but ultimately it costed a little over Rs. 370,000. The building has two floors containing 18,522 sq. feet in each floor.

The building is really majestic in appearance, just opposite of the President’s Palace. There is an underground tunnel connecting the GPO with the President’s Palace and during the British period the mail was delivered to the Governor immediately after the mail was sorted out.

The GPO was open 24/7 and did not have gates! It was after the JVP uprising in 1971, gates were installed and started to function like a normal government organisation.

In the year 2000, the Government decided to shift the postal functions from this building due to “security reasons”. Subsequently, the building was refurbished with a view to sell the building along with the Kandy and Galle Post Office buildings. The Postal Unions went on strike and this building is vacant and not in use while the GPO is functioning in the MICH building in Sir Razik Fareed Mawatha.

The Minister in Charge of Postal Services should take early action to restore the functioning of the postal services in this original building built for the very purpose to house the GPO.

C. Suntharamoorthy