The Lotus Tower: A vanity project the country can ill afford

With the country going through one of the worst economic crises in its history, economic experts as well as other concerned citizens continue to examine the possible reasons for the predicament that the nation faces today.

In the words of Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, the year 2022 was the worst year in the country’s history. In a public pronouncement last week he expressed hope that the country will never have to undergo a similar experience again.

While it is crystal clear that the country was driven to bankruptcy because of the poor governance and mismanagement of the past three years, it is also equally true that the desire to indulge in vanity projects without any thought of the costs to the economy have contributed to increasing the huge external debt that the country is struggling with at the moment.

A glaring example of such an ill conceived project is the Lotus Tower Project which stands out in the Colombo skyline amid the poverty and day to day struggles that the citizens below face.

There have been several news items and opinion pieces in the media in the last few weeks raising several questions about the way the project has been implemented thus highlighting how ill-conceived the project was.

The Lotus Tower was built at a cost of US$113 million and projected as the tallest structure in South Asia.

When the Lotus Tower Project was initiated by the Government of the day in 2011, it was promoted and proposed primarily as a multi-purpose tower which was expected to provide facilities for broadcasting and telecommunications.

The huge expenditure on the project was sought to be justified on the basis that the country needed to invest on a tower facility which had the potential to consolidate all broadcasting and telecommunication services, scattered on numerous towers around the city.

Apart from the ostentatious nature of the project it was mired in controversy right from the start. The fact that 80 percent of the cost was funded by the Exim Bank of China and the contract was awarded to two Chinese companies raised concerns in Indian quarters whether it would be used for spying. It is not clear whether this project like many other mega projects in recent times was an unsolicited one or one that was embarked on after a feasibility study and calling for tenders.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena who inaugurated the Tower in 2019 added to the controversy surrounding the project when he alleged, after declaring the Tower open, that one of the companies to whom the contract was awarded had disappeared after misappropriating two billion rupees which had been deposited with it. There is no evidence that this allegation has been investigated despite being made by the highest in the land.

The Chinese company that was entrusted with the construction work handed over the Lotus Tower to the Government of Sri Lanka in February 2022.  The Government proceeded to establish a company called Colombo Lotus Tower Pvt. Ltd and its operations were entrusted to the company.

The Chief Administrative Officer of Colombo Lotus Tower Pvt. Ltd Major General (Ret.) Prasad Samarasinghe was recently quoted in the media as saying that the Lotus Tower planned to avail new technological experiences along with entertainment similar to those found in wealthy countries around the world.

Samarasinghe also said 80 percent of local investors and 20 percent of foreign investors including Dialog Telecom Company and Sri Lanka Telecom Company had invested in the Project to date.

From all accounts the Lotus Tower is currently seeking to market itself as an entertainment spot for local and foreign tourists rather than the originally intended broadcasting hub.

In fact this fact has been alluded to by a Sri Lankan expert in a recent article published in the media.   Shanthilal Nanayakkara who is a retired Principal Engineer at the Digital Transition Division of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Canberra points out that when the project was originally announced the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) had said the tower would be capable of accommodating 50 television and 35 FM radio services.

However he is of the view that accommodating a total of 85 broadcasting services is unlikely to materialise as originally envisaged.

According to Nanayakkara now the Tower has other attractions but broadcasting and other communication facilities, which were intended to be the primary purpose of the tower, are absent.

He also raises several technical issues that may prevent the Project achieving its objectives and makes various recommendations to overcome such technical issues.

He also points out that to ensure that the Lotus Tower fulfills its primary purpose of providing a consolidated multi-user broadcast and communication facility, a considerable effort and additional capital would be needed.

In the meantime another writer has raised the question of possible dangers to aircraft from the Lotus tower.

He points out that the top of the Lotus Tower stands 350 above sea level in the heart of Colombo City and that it has to be lit up in accordance with the Aircraft Obstacle Lighting recommendations contained in Annex 14 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Convention originally signed by Ceylon in 1944.

According to the writer a free-standing tower of that height is required by international law to be lit up not only at night with red lights, but also with high visibility white strobe lights during the day.

He laments that unfortunately these lights do not seem to be always on during the day. The authorities concerned must realise that the strobe lighting during the day is not for beauty but for air safety, especially these days, when the air quality and visibility are low during the day he stated. He has also drawn the attention of the Civil Aviation Authority to these dangers.

All in all the Lotus Tower may have been a luxury that the country could ill afford. It is also one of those ill thought out grandiose schemes that has placed a strain on our economy. (javidyusuf@gmail.com)