Construction begins on 39-acre, Rs 1.5 bn bird park in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has begun construction of a 39-acre bird park in Colombo at an estimated cost of Rs 1.51 billion to revive tourism, the State Ministry of Urban Development said.

The park will be built on a design-build-finance-and-operate basis and will be completed by 2025, the ministry said, adding that a private sector investor was selected for the project.

The park is to be built on 39 acres of marshy land in Madiwela owned by the Urban Development Authority (UDA), with the objective of turning it into a global tourist attraction.

“Today, the wetland is under great threat and destruction due to unauthorised encroachment by residents, dumping of sewage, the connection of sewage systems to the canals flowing through the wetland and unauthorised filling.

“In order to protect this wetland and to keep the canals flowing through this wetland directly connected to the Diyawanna Oya clean, the Colombo Bird Park Project is to be constructed within 24 months centring on the Madiwela wetland,” the ministry statement said.

The state ministry said that the park is planned to be a fully-fledged wetland park with bird shows, exotic and local bird watching opportunities, water parks, forest parks and restaurants.

“It is also proposed to complete all constructions in a manner to protect the Madiwela wetland which is currently being destroyed and to develop only 02% of the wetland while the rest of the land will be developed in an eco-friendly manner in accordance with the design plan of the park,” the statement said.

“Based on the 30-year lease value determined by the chief government assessor, an experienced private sector investor was selected for the project in accordance with the government procurement guidelines to construct the park on a Design, Build, Finance and Operate basis,” it added.