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Top Indian company warns Sri Lankan government

Xinhua, March 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

A leading Indian company on Thursday rejected allegations by the new Sri Lankan government over a housing project in the capital Colombo and warned that " arbitrary actions" would adversely impact confidence of overseas companies to make future investments in Sri Lanka.

The government, earlier this month said that it had decided to do a complete review of the Indian owned Tata Housing's US$400 million project titled 'One Colombo Ltd'.

"We are examining a housing project by Indian conglomerate Tata. The Tatas come in and say they will put in $250 million, but they put in $20 million, use our land, and sell it back to us for a higher price. How does that work?" Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake was quoted earlier this month in the local media.

However, in a statement issued in Colombo on Thursday, Tata Housing said it was deeply disappointed over the alleged media reports quoting government authorities regarding its decision to review the project based on allegations which the company said were not factual. "Such actions by the government discredits the authorities in Sri Lanka that have been engaging with Tata Housing over the past three and half years and have granted multiple approvals for the project based on its merit. Besides, such arbitrary actions will also adversely impact confidence of overseas companies to make future investments in Sri Lanka," Tata said.

Tata Housing said it has provided the factual details of the project to refute the allegations reported in the media reports quoting various government authorities and reiterated its commitment to the Colombo Project.

Indian based Tata's mixed development project is proposed to commence on an area of eight acres in Slave Island, in Colombo. The project was launched in May last year under the previous Mahinda Rajapakse government.

Construction work was expected to be complete within a period of two and a half years.

However, Sri Lanka's new Investment Promotion, Highways and Higher Education Minister Kabir Hashim also told local media earlier this month that it had received Cabinet approval to review the whole process of launching the Indian project in Sri Lanka. Endi