No casino deal with Packer, says Govt.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013 00:55 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

Our Lobby Correspondent

The Government yesterday refuted speculation that the recent visit of a major Australian casino kingpin James Packer to Sri Lanka was part of a controversial plan to construct a controversial casino district in the heart of Colombo.

Minister of Investment Promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told Parliament yesterday that the Government had not identified casinos as a strategic investment opportunity.

“Approval is granted only to construct a star class hotel complex with 400 rooms, retail shopping, fine-dining restaurants, with meeting and convention facilities, and entertainment facilities similar to what is currently operated by local and foreign investors subjected to betting and gaming licenses,” he said.

The Minister said that the proposed hotel furnished with entertainment that required the obtaining of a “gaming and betting license” was expected to create 2,600 direct employment opportunities and bring US$ 350 million worth of initial investment to Sri Lanka.

He told the Legislature that tax concessions had been granted for the project because of the level of investment involved, as per the provisions of the Department of Inland Revenue and the Strategic Development Project Act. “There is no violation of prevailing laws,” he said.

Minister Abeywardena said that the Government had considered the recent policy decision to control property transfers to foreigners and therefore the project’s local partner with a 45% of the stake will hold the land.

“The Government is aiming at 2.5 million tourist arrivals by 2016 and to maintain an economic growth of 8%-10%. To meet this target we will need to have foreign investment of 4% of GDP at least, possible only by bringing in such high valued investment to the country. In the absence of promotions, investors will not be attracted.

Both the socialist as well as capitalist countries including Vietnam, China, United States, Japan and Europe provide such enticements. Investments in these countries have increased,” Minister Abeywardena said in response to a question raised by Democratic National Alliance MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Dissanayake charged that a recent letter from the Director General of the Department of Fiscal Policy at Ministry of Finance describes the tax concessions proposed for the proposed casino at D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha.

The DNA MP revealed in Parliament that the land belonged to the Supplies Department and has been allocated for this casino owned by a foreign investor which holds 55% of the stake and its local partner, Rank Entertainment in Colombo 3, owned the remainder.

“The casino is exempted from income tax for a period of 10 years, which will be calculated after three years commencing the commercial operations. The shareholders will also be exempted from tax for a period of 10 years and all imports for the casino will be exempted from Customs Tax for a period of four years. Most importantly, this casino will also be exempt from foreign currency regulations according to the Finance Ministry internal memo,” Dissanayake charged.