By Esther Tanquitic-Misa
James Packer, Australia's fourth billionaire according to a list by Forbes, has been included in a list of unwelcome personalities in Sri Lanka, after he decided to quit plans of setting up a casino in the South Asian country.
Crown Resorts Ltd., the Australian casino company controlled by Packer, in a 2013 regulatory statement, had proposed to construct a five-star resort in the tropical island nation. It will have 450 hotel rooms and suites, gaming areas and restaurants. It will be located at Beira Lake in the centre of Colombo.
But Packer's Crown Group abandoned the $400 million development plan after the new government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe removed the $1 billion tax concessions in 10-year tax breaks that were so generously extended by the previous regime which had envisioned Colombo turning into a regional gaming hub someday. "We need only good investors ... we don't want an economy relying on casinos," Wickremesinghe said in a statement released by his office. Wickremesinghe was appointed prime minister in January following the election of Maithripala Sirisena as president.
"Packer says he will not come. Who asked you to come?" the Sri Lankan prime minister added. "Please don't come — not in this lifetime."
The previous 10-year regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa had planned to put in casinos and hotel projects in Colombo to rejuvenate the economy of Sri Lanka, thus the grant of tax concessions to Packer's Crown Group. But Sirisena, Sri Lanka's new President dubbed the casino developments as "antisocial business concerns" and vowed to cancel whatever licences the previous administration had given.
Apart from the planned 450-room property of Packer's Crown Group, a $700 million complex developed by Sri Lanka's largest conglomerate by revenue, John Keells Holdings, was likewise affected.
The latter had announced it will proceed only with the hotel, not with the casino.
Packer's project had been approved in December 2013. Construction however has yet to commence. "Crown Resorts respects the decision and on that basis the project would not be going ahead," a spokesperson for Packer's casino conglomerate said in a statement. (International Business Times Australia)
www.ceylontoday.lk
James Packer, Australia's fourth billionaire according to a list by Forbes, has been included in a list of unwelcome personalities in Sri Lanka, after he decided to quit plans of setting up a casino in the South Asian country.
Crown Resorts Ltd., the Australian casino company controlled by Packer, in a 2013 regulatory statement, had proposed to construct a five-star resort in the tropical island nation. It will have 450 hotel rooms and suites, gaming areas and restaurants. It will be located at Beira Lake in the centre of Colombo.
But Packer's Crown Group abandoned the $400 million development plan after the new government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe removed the $1 billion tax concessions in 10-year tax breaks that were so generously extended by the previous regime which had envisioned Colombo turning into a regional gaming hub someday. "We need only good investors ... we don't want an economy relying on casinos," Wickremesinghe said in a statement released by his office. Wickremesinghe was appointed prime minister in January following the election of Maithripala Sirisena as president.
"Packer says he will not come. Who asked you to come?" the Sri Lankan prime minister added. "Please don't come — not in this lifetime."
The previous 10-year regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa had planned to put in casinos and hotel projects in Colombo to rejuvenate the economy of Sri Lanka, thus the grant of tax concessions to Packer's Crown Group. But Sirisena, Sri Lanka's new President dubbed the casino developments as "antisocial business concerns" and vowed to cancel whatever licences the previous administration had given.
Apart from the planned 450-room property of Packer's Crown Group, a $700 million complex developed by Sri Lanka's largest conglomerate by revenue, John Keells Holdings, was likewise affected.
The latter had announced it will proceed only with the hotel, not with the casino.
Packer's project had been approved in December 2013. Construction however has yet to commence. "Crown Resorts respects the decision and on that basis the project would not be going ahead," a spokesperson for Packer's casino conglomerate said in a statement. (International Business Times Australia)
www.ceylontoday.lk
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