SLBC land in Ja-Ela leased to multinational company!

The Cabinet has decided to hand over a land in Ja-Ela in Ekala, owned by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), to the Access Engineering Group for a period of 49 years.

The value of the land (36 acres, 01 Rood, 27.6 perches) is said to be 2.4 billion rupees.

The Urban Development Authority (UDA) has obtained Cabinet approval to acquire the relevant land and hand it over to Access Logistics Park Ekala (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary of Access Group, for a mixed development project.

Access has acquired this, claiming that it is building the largest warehouse complex in Sri Lanka.

The land has been leased by the Urban Development Authority to Access Engineering PLC under a Under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.

According to the government, the land for the project was awarded to Access Engineering Group through a competitive bidding process.

Speaking to Daily Mirror Business, Access Engineering Group Executive Vice Chairman Christopher Joshua has noted that Access Group secured the said land on a 49-year lease from the UDA for Rs.2.4 billion, which is over three times the value  (Rs.600 million) estimated by the Government Chief Valuer.

The proposed 700,000 square feet warehousing complex is set to become the country’s largest warehousing complex - three times the size of the current largest such complex in the country.

The proposed logistic park would also be inclusive of bonded warehousing facilities, subject to approvals from the Sri Lanka Customs and Ministry of Finance.
Joshua revealed that a leading multinational company has already come onboard to lease the facility from Access Group.

The multinational is expected to invest US$ 50-75 million in internal infrastructure facilities and the overall estimated investment in the project is estimated at around US$ 250 million.

Due to the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed between Access and the said multinational, Joshua noted that he’s not in position to reveal the name of the multinational to the public as yet.