Shangri La Colombo hotel on stream; other plans on hold
View(s):Hong Kong-based Shangri La group is focusing on Phase 1 of its Colombo project – construction of a luxury 500-room hotel but re-thinking its Phase 2 development of luxury residencies and a 25,000 square metre high-end shopping mall, official sources said.
Piling work at the Shangri-La, Colombo hotel site is now underway after around two years of its ground breaking ceremony held in Colombo on February 2012. But the company is in two minds on the construction of the luxury apartment complex due to insufficient demand, a senior official said adding that the company might drop the idea after assessing market conditions.
The group bought a 6 acre block of state land in Colombo’s ‘Galle Face’ beach front in 2011 for US$125 million to build a 500 room hotel, shopping and apartment complex but the project has been delayed due to some change in the design.
According to original plans the project was scheduled to be completed this year, but under the present set up it is a daunting task for the Shangri La group, the sources said. However the Shangri La Colombo office has called for expressions of interest from prospective contractors by publishing newspaper advertisements recently to procure necessary building material to kick start the construction work.
The cost of building the hotel has also risen by 10 per cent to $550 million from the earlier estimate of US$ 500 million, a company official said adding that design changes were the reason for the increase in cost.
Meanwhile the construction work of Shangri La tourist resort with 300 rooms and 50 villas in Hambantota is also underway but the opening of the hotel will be delayed. It was scheduled to open in 2013. The estimated cost was around $130 million, he said.