Plan to relocate President’s House, Temple Trees to Sri J’pura Kotte put on hold

• Land meant for President’s House near P’ment to be developed as Bird Park
• The new Govt. has already abandoned some projects launched by the last government

By Kelum Bandara   

The new government led by the National People’s Power (NPP)  has put on hold plans by the previous rule to relocate the President’s  House, Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s office and the Presidential  Secretariat to Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, a top source said.  

The previous government planned for the relocation of these  offices so that their current buildings could be developed for  tourism as Colombo Heritage Square. The last government planned for the  allocation of funds in the 2025 budget for the execution of the project.    

However, a top official of the Urban Development Ministry  said this project had been kept on hold by the current government and  the final decision had not yet been taken on the alternative plan for  the use of them.  

The last government planned for the construction of the new  President’s House in Madiwela close to the parliamentary complex. It  was a project first initiated during the time of former President  Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. However, the governments that  succeeded her did not focus attention on it until the last rule led by  former President Ranil Wickremesinghe revisited it and decided to  proceed with it in a scaled-down manner.  

A source familiar with the move by the current government  said that the landmass identified for the project will be  used for a bird park instead.   

The new government has already abandoned some similar  projects launched by the last government. The project for the use of  the iconic post office building in Nuwara-Eliya for tourism is one of  them.  

The government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake decided to retain it for the exclusive use of the Postal Department.  

However, the new government has decided to use state  bungalows for economic use without reserving them as official residences  of ministers.