Who used Arugam Bay super luxury Hotel complex

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday revealed that a mega luxury hotel complex was built in Arugam Bay by the previous regime which contained 58 chalets and which even surpassed the Buckingham Palace in the scale of luxury.

Referring to large-scale corruption and misuse of funds, Wickremesinghe pointed out that the previous regime had set up an astonishing number of mansions in many parts of the island, the latest being the so-called International Coordinating Headquarters in Arugam Bay. “We found this super luxury holiday resort at Arugama Bay. We were amazed to observe the luxuries of the hotel complex. It is much more deluxe than the Buckingham Palace in U.K. It has 58 chalets with all comforts and facilities. There were chalets of various categories. On inquiry, we were told that the former President did visit the location very rarely about once a year,” the Prime Minister said.

“Then who used those luxury cabins. On the other hand, it was quite absurd and hilarious to observe that attached to every chalet at the holidaying location there was a swimming pool just not more than 100 metres away from the bay. Further, the entire mega project has been initiated without the approval of Parliament. It was launched contravening the monetary regulations of the country. In future, we will not allow any such wasteful projects,” he assured.

The Prime Minister was addressing a gathering of United National Party cadres at Uluwitike, Galle.

UNP activists of Galle district in large numbers led by their local leaders attended the meeting convened by former minister and UNP Galle district Chairman Vajira Abeywardane at his residence.

The Prime Minister said the country’s tourism industry should not be allowed to be dominated by a few large scale operators.

The ultimate beneficiaries of tourism development should be the people of the country. A tourism industry, which fosters only a few privileged
sections of the society will not usher prosperity to the country. Hence, a new national tourism strategy, which will benefit the small-scale tourism entrepreneurs will be devised and implemented soon, Wickremesinghe said.

“Promoting and patronising only the big names in the tourism industry will not lift the living standards of the public. We want to bring money to the small man. During the past era the small-scale industrialists were overlooked. Their problems were not properly addressed. We want to ensure a thriving tourism industry, which would give dividends to the masses of the country,” he said.

Premier Wickremesinghe who also referring to the mega projects launched under the patronage of the previous government, affirmed that in the future no permission would be granted for the construction of sky scrapers which had proved to be environmentally destructive.

“A key factor for tourism development is the conservation of the environment. Quality of environment is essential to tourism. Many of the adverse impacts on nature are linked to construction of infrastructure such as mega building complexes, roads etc. We should not allow negative impacts of tourism promotion to destroy the environmental resources on which tourism depends on,” he said.

The Prime Minister also said Galle is historically a conducive and popular destination for tourism.

“During the previous regime, the Unawatuna beach acclaimed as the best natural beach and the bay in the world, suffered irreparable devastation. The beautiful beach that existed has disappeared. On personal needs and ambitions of the previous regime’s cronies, an obviously destructive seawall has been erected. I have already instructed the authorities of the Coast Conservation Department to rectify the adverse effect of erroneous construction on the beach at the earliest,” he said.

The Galle Literary Festival, an international literary festival held annually since 2005 brought huge fame to Galle. The festival progressed with the participation of internationally acclaimed and well-known writers. However, during the past few years its prestige and reputation had sadly diminished, the Prime Minister said. “Nevertheless, we will extend our fullest cooperation and support to uphold its past glory. We plan to hold a literary festival in Kandy and Jaffna too corresponding to the Galle Literary Festival. In Jaffna, Tamil literary works and writers from around the world would be appreciated and hailed while in Kandy both Tamil and Sinhala literature would be given prominence,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.

“We will transform the historical city of Galle as a top most global capital with many international festivals and events, which would draw loads of foreigners to the region. We have also planned to develop Matara as a chief tourist centre in the South. It has also been intended to introduce and organise various international events and festivities in Galle and Matara throughout the year,” he said.

Commenting on the recent budgetary concessions offered to the public, the Prime Minister said the government was able to provide this relief by removing all unfair taxes on many food items.

“Some predicted that we would not reduce the prices of 10 essential food items as promised during the Presidential election campaign. However, we did what they foresaw as impossible. We did it by eliminating all unjust taxes that had been imposed by the Rajapaksa regime to foster their large-scale corruption and squandering of national wealth,” he said. Media and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gayantha Karunathilake and former minister and Galle district UNP Chairman Vajira Abeywardane also spoke.