Urban Development and Housing Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said yesterday that the floating market in Pettah will be developed as a major tourist hotspot targeting more foreign investments to the country. Various accusations were made against the Urban Development Authority over the past period that this floating market is not properly managed.
Minister Ranatunga having paid attention to this, advised the Urban Development Authority to work on developing this market under public-private partnership as it is difficult to develop this with the state funds due to the current economic problems of the country.
Then, the Urban Development Authority invited potential investors to invest in this. Accordingly, a Japanese investor came forward to invest in this project.
Therefore, the floating market will be developed as a Japanese city cum floating market.
The signing of the initial memorandum of understanding for redeveloping the floating market in Pettah was held yesterday at the Urban Development Authority, Battaramulla under the patronage of Urban Development Authority Chairman Nimesh Herath and the Japanese investor Akira Hirose. Accordingly, the management and running of the floating market will be done by this Japanese investment.
Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has instructed the Urban Development Authority to take steps to develop this in a manner that does not cause any injustice to the shop owners who are currently doing business there.
The Pettah floating Market is located at Bastion Mawatha, Colombo. It has 92 stalls and there are also a number of stalls installed on boats in the Beira Lake.
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