Presidential residences

The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval this week to lease several under-utilised presidential residences to private investors on a long-term basis for tourism development projects. The proposal by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was to allow the lease of the presidential residences located in Bentota, Kataragama, Mahiyanganaya, Embilipitiya and Anuradhapura to suitable investors. These properties are currently managed by the Presidential Secretariat.

Cabinet Spokesman Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa told reporters at the weekly briefing that these official residences allocated for use by the President are not used by the current President and hence the decision to develop them for tourism.

That the current President has chosen not to use these residences in itself raises significant questions. If the President is touring any of the areas of the country where there is an official residence designated for the Head of State, he should use that residence and not private places, particularly due to security concerns. The decision by the current President to stay at places of his fancy is no doubt a nightmare for his security detail who have to scout out the entire area when the president decides to stay in some private accommodation instead of the properties allocated to him in different parts of the country.

In addition to this, as Minister Jayatissa said these buildings have architectural and economic value, while being equipped with full facilities and are situated in some of the most picturesque locations in the country.

These properties belong to the State, and they cannot be bartered away to some private party at the fancy of any Government that has been elected for five years and are not permanent custodians for State property.

The news that several of the Presidential residences will be given to the private sector comes amidst a report  by the Auditor General that 3,089 individuals were accommodated at Presidential residences across the country during 2025 despite claims that these properties have not been used since this Government took over.

The President’s Media Division issued a denial stating that officers attached to security services, the PMD and other official institutions were provided temporary accommodation on certain occasions to meet official operational requirements and that they had  stayed in separate buildings located within the premises of Presidential Residences and not inside the residences themselves.

The Government has been eager to portray itself as a party of austerity, but most of its cutbacks on spending have been symbolic and have had little impact where State finances are concerned. These include doing away with MPs pensions, cutting  back on the perks given to former presidents, giving up use of official residences allocated to ministers, many of which are lying idle and falling into disrepair. While the Government is keen to showcase itself as an austerity driven Government, all it has been so far is  penny wise and pound  foolish.

The hard truth is that while saving pennies, billions have been lost due to mismanagement and corruption since the NPP took office. These include the $ 2.5 million loss from the Finance Ministry, billions lost due to the import of substandard coal, etc.

This decision to lease the Presidential residences is not about stopping corruption and mismanagement but these are desperate moves to show that the NPP is with the common man.

But in reality, these are superficial measures which mean nothing as the ordinary person in this country has gained little by these austerity measures of the Government. All the public has had is a daily increase of the prices of essential goods and services with taxes being piled up on them one after the other. Whether the President chooses to stay in his officially designated residence  or not will have no impact on their lives, but the foolish decision to give away valuable State properties will lead to long term losses to the country.