Packer’s $350 mln casino investment
Travel agents in Colombo last Wednesday resumed issuing tickets for travel to Bodh Gaya after a 48-hour suspension since the July 7th attack on the Mahabodhi Temple in the Bihar state of India.
Travel Agents Association President Saman Premakumara told the Business Times that they had resumed issuing tickets for pilgrim traffic to Bodh Gaya after local authorities said it was safe to travel to the site.
The Sri Lankan High Commission in Delhi on Thursday informed Sri Lankans that travel to the Mahabodhi Temple could resume for pilgrim traffic “having consulted all concerned.”
It was noted that “there has been no damage to the sacred Bodhi tree, the structure of the shrine and premises or to sacred objects as a result of the blasts, and no Sri Lankans have been hurt.”
The Mahabodhi Temple was open to the public and the temple management committee together with the Indian government has established a “security system” ensuring the safety and security of pilgrims, the statement said.
The Sri Lankan High Commission in India on Sunday had advised against all travel to Bodh Gaya for a week but on Thursday issued the green light for pilgrim traffic.
Initially following the suspension agents believed that traffic to the sacred site would be affected during the August season due to the adverse development lately.
Local pilgrims faced a number of issues in travelling to Bodh Gaya since early this year when a spate of attacks on Sri Lankans were carried out when travelling via Chennai due to which they were compelled to divert travel via New Delhi, Bangalore and other locations, it was stated.
Australian casino king James Packer’s US$ 350 million investment in Sri Lanka will be through a local consortium named “Lake Leisure” and involve a mixed development project at a car park site at D. R, Wijeyawardena Mawatha in Colombo.
The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka ( BOI) has signed a preliminary agreement with “Lake Leisure” in which Mr. Packer is a major stake holder, BOI Director General Lakshman Jayaweera said.
He said the agreement will be formalised after getting cabinet and parliamentary approval to grant it a strategic investment project status with huge tax benefits. On Wednesday Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena reiterated to journalists in Colombo that Mr. Packer has not been given a license to operate a casino in Colombo. The latter is investing in a 36- storey entertainment and apartment complex, a 400- bed super luxury hotel and a shopping complex.
However he noted that the ministry cannot prevent a person who is operating a casino in Sri Lanka to re- locate his business at this entertainment and apartment complex entering into partnership with Packer.
The formal agreement to launch the project will be signed in the next two to three weeks, he disclosed.
Packer’s consortium will get a deca- des- long tax holiday, exempting it from at least 10 taxes and levies. The tax breaks could be more than US $ 1billion foregone from the Sri Lankan budget over the next decade, Inland Revenue Department sources said.
Earlier Minister Abeywardena announced that Packer’s Crown Group and Rank Holdings, Sri Lanka's biggest gaming corporation, will be involved in the new venture.
But he confirmed on Thursday that “Lake Leisure” is implementing the project without divulging the involvement of Rank Holdings run by Ravi Wijeratne
Mr. Wijeratne obtained the lakeside site in 2007 on the condition it would be developed into a multi- storey car park.