Economic crisis stalls five high-rise buildings

Govt. mulls how to resume work on them

• Three high-rise buildings in Colombo - Torrington Avenue, Colombage Mawatha and Borella, and two in Wadduwa and Ragama   

By Kelum Bandara   

Construction work of five high-rise buildings have been ground to a standstill because of the economic crisis that hit the country in 2022, and the Ministry of Urban Development is now at a loss to decide how to resume them since the project companies have either been declared bankrupt or mutually terminated projects, a top source said.   

Three of these projects for the construction of high-rise residential blocks are in Colombo - Torrington Avenue, Colombage Mawatha and Borella .  

The other two projects are in Wadduwa in the Kalutara District and Ragama in the Gampaha District.   

A top source said that the company that executed the project in Ragama had been declared bankrupt.   

“There is mutual termination of contracts with other companies,” the source said.  

The Ministry is now trying to revive these projects as a priority before implementation of any urban development project.  

The Urban Development Authority, the Urban Settlement Development Authority and the National Housing Development Authority are the government agencies involved in these projects.