The government is attempting to sell the Hilton Hotel in Colombo at a price significantly lower than its initial valuation, roughly one-third of its original worth, according to National People’s Power (NPP) anti-corruption activist Wasantha Samarasinghe.
Initially valued at $124 million USD, the hotel is now appraised at just $55.5 million USD, a dramatic drop in just one year, Samarasinghe alleged.
“How did this figure come down so drastically? One year ago the dollar was Rs. 330 against the rupee. Today, it’s Rs. 310. So how can the value of the rupee come down by 50 to 60%?” Samarasinghe questioned.
“Now it has been decided to be sold at an even lower amount than the last evaluation, which is at $41.5 million USD. This is a hotel with 300 rooms, built on seven acres of prime property in Colombo,” he said.
He accused members of the President’s office, including Senior Advisor to the President Sagala Ratnayake, along with several other senior government officials, of facilitating this “massive corruption.”
Samarasinghe also claimed that the hotel is being sold to a company notorious for tax evasion and fraud.
Last week, the Government announced that Melwa Hotels & Resorts (Pvt) Ltd was the only prequalified company to have bid for the divestiture of shares held by the Government of Sri Lanka in Hotel Developers (Lanka) Ltd (HDL), the owning company of the Colombo Hilton.
According to the State-Owned Enterprises Restructuring Unit, the government acting through the Ministry of Finance in October 2023 called for an Expression of Interest (EoI) from interested parties for the divestiture of the shares held by the government in HDL.
Nine responses were received and after evaluation by the Cabinet-appointed Special Project Committee (SPC) and the Special Cabinet-Appointed Negotiating Committee (SpCANC), four bidders were prequalified for the Request for Proposal (RfP) stage. (Newswire)
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