Govt. to refurbish GOH through PPP

The government yesterday said it would evaluate a proposal made by Singapore’s HPL Hotel & Resorts to invest and refurbish the heritage hotel, Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH), which overlooks the Colombo Port.

A government spokesperson said the cabinet of ministers has approved a proposal to improve and refurbish GOH under a public-private partnership (PPP).

The proposal in this regard was jointly made by Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Public Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim and Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama.

The spokesperson said a project committee would be appointed to evaluate the proposal made by HPL Hotels & Resorts, subject to the relevant guidelines of the government. 

Headquartered in Singapore, HPL Hotels & Resorts is a hospitality management company, operated and wholly-owned by a Singapore main-board listed company, Hotel Properties Limited (HPL). `HPL Hotels & Resorts currently has 12 properties in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean, with a total of 2,886 rooms. GOH, which is among the 50 heritage buildings in the Colombo Fort area, is owned by state-owned banking giant Bank of Ceylon (BOC).

BOC, in 2010, made an unsuccessful attempt to refurbish the hotel through offering management contracts to private parties, which saw a number of leading local hospitality groups and several foreign players showing interest. 

The government recently sought the service of an advisor to sell the state-funded Grand Hyatt, which is under construction and the Hilton Hotel, of which the Treasury is the sole shareholder.