Four Seasons Hotel to develop GOH

By Nishel Fernando

Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday announced that Four Seasons Hotels Ltd, a Canadian international luxury hospitality company, which has 100 hotels worldwide, will come to Sri Lanka and take over the Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH) building, owned by the Bank of Ceylon(BOC) in the Fort. He was speaking at the AGM of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

The project will be developed as a joint venture between BOC and Four Seasons and the MOU will be signed shortly, he said.
Wickremesinghe said the property will be developed in the original GOH building, which includes the BOC building and has one of the largest banquet halls. Earlier the Government announced that Four Seasons Ltd was planning to invest 50 millon dollars.
The Premier noted that there were 10 heritage buildings in the Fort area and the Government was planning to gradually divest them and was awaiting the right price.

Wickremesinghe asserted that politics should not hinder economic growth.Wickremesinghe also announced that the Anti Dumping Bill will be presented to Parliament today (24) and was hoping it would be passed today itself.
He said passing the Bill was paramount for the Singapore FTA to be implemented.

Wickremesinghe also said local companies would be given a trade adjustment period of five – eight years with growth capital to seek an outward market.

“Don’t think outward looking economic policies are not favourable. You need to have the mindset to take the opportunity and move forward “, he urged the Sri Lankan business community.
The premier added that the main purpose of strengthening the FTA with India was to remove Non Tariff Barriers, “otherwise it will not be of any use”, he said.

Wickremesinghe noted that during the next 10 years, Sri Lanka will be more outward- oriented, to ensure that Sri Lankan businesses reached global markets.

Referring to the Singapore FTA, the Premier said that during his upcoming visit to Singapore, he will discuss how research and development would help to bring in new technology to the country and improve the economy.