Colombo, Jan 26 – Wild Coast Lodge, part of the MJF Holdings group, has been allowed to lease extra land near the Yala wildlife park in southern Sri Lanka where it is developing a luxury tented resort, a government spokesman said.
A property of 07 acres belonging to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority in Palatupana area in Yala has been allocated for the Wild Coast Lodge (Pvt) Ltd. project, said Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, the EconomyNext reported.
The Cabinet of ministers this week approved a proposal by John Amaratunge, Minister of Tourism Development, to provide an additional land of 155 perches on a 50 year lease to the company to continue the project.
Wild Coast Lodge has to obtain approval of the Department of Coast Conservation and Coastal Resources Management and the recommendations of Department of Wildlife Conservation in continuing with construction works.
Wild Coast Lodge had signed an agreement to set up a 28 roomed boutique hotel in Palatupana in 2016. It asked for an additional 155 perches for the luxury camps, saying it had changed the original design of the project to provide unobstructed views of the sea and beach front and needed the extra land.
The project benchmarks South African wild life tourism experience and targets a niche upmarket tourist segment prepared to pay a higher price.
The Ministry of Tourism Development said it approved the request for more land since there was no significant environmental impact and given MJF Holdings contributions to developing upmarket tourism with its Tea Trails and Cape Weligama properties
