15 July 2023 12:00 am Views - 70
By Kelum Bandara
The government intends to allocate money in the next year’s budget for the relocation of the President’s House, Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s office and the Presidential Secretariat to Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte so that these buildings can be developed for tourism as Colombo Heritage Square, a Minister said yesterday.
Minister Urban Development and Housing Prasanna Ranatunga told Daily Mirror a plan is now being worked out for the relocation of them.
“The government intends to allocate money for the whole purpose in the budget. The Urban Development Authority (UDA) is carrying out work in this regard,” he said.
UDA Chairman Nimesh Herath told Daily Mirror that a master plan is now under development for the project to be implemented. He said the plan for the construction of the President’s House in Madiwela close to the parliamentary complex during the time of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike will be revived in this exercise.
He said the new President’s House will be constructed at the same location but in a scaled-down manner
“At that time, there had been a plan to construct the President’s House with 40 rooms. We will go ahead with a structure of four rooms,” he said.
He said the UDA is carrying out the feasibility study with the involvement of the security forces.
“We have to look into the security aspect in this exercise,” he said.