Govt suspends Nuwara Eliya Post Office hotel project

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government has made a decision to retain the 130-year-old iconic Nuwara Eliya Post Office building solely for the operations of the Postal Department, suspending the previous government’s plans to use it for tourism related purposes.

Minister Vijitha Herath said that all decisions that had been taken so far by the previous regime regarding the 130-year-old Nuwara Eliya Post Office building with great historical value will be suspended.

Minister Herath said this yesterday (9) at a ceremony that was held at the Temple Trees on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the ‘World Post Day’. The Minister further said that the Nuwara Eliya Post Office, its building and its premises are utilised only for the activities of the Postal Department.Speaking on the occasion Minister Vijitha Herath said, “It was decided to take over the Nuwara Eliya Post Office building by force by the previous regime in the recent past. However, according to the policies of the new National People’s Power (NPP) government, the Nuwara Eliya Post Office building and the land will be allocated only for the activities of the Postal Department from now on.

It will not be given on lease nor sold to anyone else for any other purpose. All the decisions that had been taken thus far by the previous government regarding the Nuwara Eliya Post Office have been suspended by our government.”

There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding the controversial process of handing over the Nuwara Eliya Post Office building to the private sector for a hotel project to promote tourism by the previous regime.

The former government had made plans to handover the Nuwara Eliya Post Office to the Taj Samudra Hotel as a hotel project to improve tourism in the area.

Protests were held against the former government’s plan in November 2023, which prompted the then President Ranil Wickremesinghe to clarify that plans had been only made to set up hotels in the lands surrounding the Nuwara Eliya Post Office building, reiterating that there were no such plans to demolish the Nuwara Eliya Post Office building and it was only proposed to renovate the building.

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