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Country’s ‘tallest building’ Altair declared open

28 Oct 2021

  • Namal Rajapaksa inaugurates ceremony
  • $ 250 m invested; 250 units sold so far
  • Developers receive queries for remaining 150
    BY Shenal Fernando Altair Colombo, the tallest building to be opened in Sri Lanka, was declared open yesterday (27) by Minister of Youth and Sports, Minister of Development Co-ordination and Monitoring, and State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development Namal Rajapaksa, with about 250 units having been sold already and approximately 150 units remaining for prospective buyers.  This residential building comprises 68 floors spread out across 1.5 million square feet and involved an investment of $ 250 million, which is the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) investment for real estate in Sri Lanka’s history, according to developers. According to South City Projects Kolkata Ltd. Director and Shareholder Sushil Mohta, the apartments sold so far were purchased mainly by resident locals, non-resident locals, and foreign expats, and were purchased mainly to reside in or to rent out. Customers are now able to initiate fit-outs of the apartments through a phased-out schedule with the total sold apartments ready to be handed over within the next few weeks. The developers do not expect to run into any significant difficulty in selling the remaining 150-plus apartments as they have received numerous positive queries from interested parties following the completion of the project. While admitting that sales have been repressed due to Covid-19, the developers are hopeful that due to the mass vaccination programme, demand will recover in the immediate future. Moreover, over the past few years, only a limited number of residential projects have been launched, and consequently, the developers believe that the inventory of luxury apartments available in the market has been exhausted, and in turn, there is expected to be a high demand for the Altair apartments. The developers further commended the Government, the Urban Development Authority, and Special Authorised Officer Nimal Perera for the support provided during the execution of the project. They also commended the ease of doing business in Sri Lanka with its investor-friendly laws and expressed that they had a positive experience in Sri Lanka. The Altair project was carried out by Indocean Developers (Pvt.) Ltd. which is the step-down subsidiary of South City Projects Kolkata Ltd. South City Projects, with its 150 years of combined excellence and development experience, is one of the best residential and commercial real estate developers in the East Indian real estate industry and is one of the top 10 developer consortiums in India.   Commenting on the highly publicised dispute between shareholders of the Altair project, Mohta claimed that South City Projects Kolkata is the sole shareholder of the project and that the previous minority shareholder, Jaideep Halwasiya, was bought out and all litigations between parties have been resolved.    However, the action instituted against PwC Sri Lanka is still pending in court, where PwC is accused of providing an audit report which was described as a “concerted act of conspiracy” to create an environment to facilitate the said “fraudulent and hostile” takeover of Indocean Developers by the former minority shareholders of the project. Mohta noted: “PwC Sri Lanka acted unethically by conducting an audit without proper investigation which was one sided like a tailor-made report. It wasn’t expected from a world-renowned audit firm like PwC. So, we had to file a case against them and it is still pending.”   Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay and State Minister of Urban Development, Waste Disposal, and Community Cleanliness Dr. Nalaka Godahewa and Special Authorised Officer Nimal Perera also participated in the opening ceremony.  This iconic building was designed by Moshe Safdie, the famous architect based in Boston, USA, who was the creator of Marina Bay Sands, and comprises 404 luxurious apartments. The building will also contain a four-level car park, an arcade, and the tallest pool in Sri Lanka which will be located on its 63rd floor. This unique building, with its sloping tower design, is expected to redefine the skyline of Colombo. 


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