By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema - Leading hoteliers told The Sunday Leader that they were being approached by “associates close to the Rajapaksa brothers” pushing them to purchase large tracts of land at Kuchchaveli in the Trincomalee District. The land is held in the names of companies registered “overnight” they said.
A leading hotelier requesting anonymity told The Sunday Leader that a “bogus businessman” who had received a plot of land in the coastal area of Kuchchaveli had requested him to invest Rs. 5 million to construct a hotel in the area.
He said most of the businessmen who have applied for land in the Kuchchaveli coastal area were either from the Hambantota District or supporters of the Rajapaksa administration.
Collaborating these charges, Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan said he has objected to a proposed tourism development project in the Kuchchaveli coastal area in the Trincomalee District claiming it did not have the official approval of either the Chief Minister or the Provincial Land Commissioner.
Chandrakanthan told The Sunday Leader that the UDA, Trincomalee GA and the Tourism Ministry had decided the project without receiving the necessary approval from the Chief Minister.
According to the proposal about eight acres of prime land in the Kuchchaveli coastal area are to be distributed among 132 businessmen to develop the area as a tourist destination.
“I objected to it and stopped the project as neither the Provincial Land Commissioner nor I were informed of it. According to the prevailing laws, it is necessary for any project to be launched in the Province to receive necessary approval from the Chief Minister,” Chandrakanthan said.
© The Sunday Leader
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