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Marble Beach property: SLTDA to consult Lands Ministry

18 Jul 2020

The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) is expected to send a letter to the Ministry of Lands and Land Development this week, requesting clarification on the ownership of a plot of land in Marble Beach, Trincomalee.  The letter will be sent through the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.  On 25 June, the SLTDA requested the subject Ministry’s intervention to resolve the issue and it has been decided by the Ministry and the SLTDA that the issue is to be forwarded to the Ministry of Lands.  The 21-acre plot of land is located on Marble Beach in Trincomalee, a tourist hotspot, in the Gravest Assistant Government Agent. Recently, certain website report had alleged that SLTDA Chairperson Kimarli Fernando is now attempting to assign the land to her husband, Malik Fernando, a renowned hotelier, to build a hotel. According to a board paper of the SLTDA, in the terms of the powers vested by the Tourism Development Act of 1968, the Ceylon Tourist Board was to acquire this land. On behalf of the Tourist Board, the Trincomalee Government Agent had taken steps to acquire the land as per the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act of 1950. However, due to unknown reasons, the acquisition procedure, which was under the control of the Trincomalee Government Agent then, had not been completed and no compensation had been paid to any claimants. The said land had not been used for the purpose of tourism or tourism-related projects, even though it had been declared in the name of the Ceylon Tourist Board since 1982.  The board paper further stated that one reason for this could be the incomplete acquisition process where no documents pertaining to the handing over or taking over of the land are available either at the Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat or Sri Lanka Tourism.  Meanwhile, a person named Rohan Ponniah from Trincomalee appeared as the legal claimant for the above land and submitted an appeal to the SLTDA requesting its consent for him to obtain legal clearance for the land through the Ministry of Lands and Land Development, as he wanted to utilise it for a tourism project in collaboration with Resplendent Ceylon. Accordingly, the SLTDA has had meetings regarding this land matter in the SLTDA office as well as in the office of former State Minister Susantha Punchinilame, former MP to the Trincomalee area, who was very keen on getting the tourism project for that region, according to the board paper.  The last meeting in this regard was held on 28 February 2020 at the office of Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga. Based on the discussions therein, the Divisional Secretariat of Trincomalee town and Gravest Division, referring to a letter sent by claimant Ponniah, made a written request of the SLTDA Director General via a letter dated 10 March 2020, asking to refer the issue to the Ministry of Lands with the current stand of the SLTDA in order to close this long-overdue land matter. However, due to the fact that the current claimant’s name was not indicated in the Survey General’s map at the initial stage of acquisition, it was suggested to give the SLTDA’s consent for the Ministry of Lands to proceed with the necessary steps to ensure the release of the land to its legal owners.  The Board of the SLTDA, after noting the above details and information, had approved of the SLTDA giving consent to the Ministry of Lands through the Ministry of Tourism to deal with the claimant of the land lot no. 286 of the final village plan 26 in the Marble Beach area of the Trincomalee District to release it to the legal owner for developing a worthy tourism project.


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