Sri Lanka says $1 billion hotel, shopping mall deals inked

Sri Lanka on Friday said nearly $1 billion of foreign investment will flow into a 500-room hotel and a shopping mall, the largest investments so far into its post-war tourism boom.       

The island nation's cabinet has approved a $500 million shopping mall project by China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) in the heart of the capital, Colombo.            

Shangri-La Hotels Lanka Ltd., a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed hotel operator Shangri-La Asia Ltd, will also build a 500-room hotel along Colombo's sea front, on the site of the army headquarters and defence ministry. 

Both will be moved and the land will be leased. 

"The total foreign investment on these two projects will  be around $1,000 million," the government said in its latest  cabinet decisions, published on the official website  www.news.lk.

"This will assist developing Colombo as a middle income  commercial city and also to accommodate nearly 2.5 million  tourists expected by 2016." 

Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals and revenue hit a record high last year. Tourists brought in more than $500 million in the  first 11 months as Sri Lanka post-war travel boom gathered speed.