India's plan to buy a property to
move its cultural centre in Colombo is in limbo, after New Delhi lost out to a
Chinese state-owned company in the race to buy a prime plot in the Sri Lankan
capital – allegedly due to delay by the island nation’s government in issuing
necessary clearances.
New Delhi last month conveyed its displeasure to the Sri Lankan government after the plot it was planning to buy in Colombo to set up the Indian Cultural Centre was sold to a subsidiary of Avic International Holding Corporation – a state-owned conglomerate of China.
“The Government of Sri Lanka has offered to assist the High Commission of India in acquiring a government property to locate the Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo,” Minister of State for External Affairs, Preneet Kaur, informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question last week. But, according to the sources, it might still take long to shift the cultural centre to a property that would be owned by the Government of India.
“We have been planning to move to a place owned by the Indian Government ever since the centre was set up in 1998 in a rented accommodation,” M Ramachandran, the director of the Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo, told Deccan Herald over phone from Sri Lankan capital. “There has not been much progress yet as the Government (of India) is yet to find a property to buy,” he added.
The Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo moved to a new rented accommodation in 2010. “Had the cultural centre been located in a place owned by the Indian Government, we would have been able to design it in accordance with our own plans,” said Ramachandran.
Indian High Commission in Colombo had concluded negotiations with M/s Shaw Wallace & Hedges PLC to buy a plot of land owned by the private company at Kollupitiya locality of Colombo. It then sought necessary clearances from the Ministry of External Affairs of the Sri Lankan Government to buy the plot. But as the Sri Lankan Government allegedly delayed the approval for purchase of the property, the M/s Shaw Wallace & Hedges PLC struck a deal with a subsidiary of the Avic International Holding Corporation – the new incarnation of the Chinese defence aviation company, China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corporation or CATIC, which was restructured and renamed in 2008.
New Delhi last month conveyed its displeasure to the Sri Lankan government after the plot it was planning to buy in Colombo to set up the Indian Cultural Centre was sold to a subsidiary of Avic International Holding Corporation – a state-owned conglomerate of China.
“The Government of Sri Lanka has offered to assist the High Commission of India in acquiring a government property to locate the Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo,” Minister of State for External Affairs, Preneet Kaur, informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question last week. But, according to the sources, it might still take long to shift the cultural centre to a property that would be owned by the Government of India.
“We have been planning to move to a place owned by the Indian Government ever since the centre was set up in 1998 in a rented accommodation,” M Ramachandran, the director of the Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo, told Deccan Herald over phone from Sri Lankan capital. “There has not been much progress yet as the Government (of India) is yet to find a property to buy,” he added.
The Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo moved to a new rented accommodation in 2010. “Had the cultural centre been located in a place owned by the Indian Government, we would have been able to design it in accordance with our own plans,” said Ramachandran.
Indian High Commission in Colombo had concluded negotiations with M/s Shaw Wallace & Hedges PLC to buy a plot of land owned by the private company at Kollupitiya locality of Colombo. It then sought necessary clearances from the Ministry of External Affairs of the Sri Lankan Government to buy the plot. But as the Sri Lankan Government allegedly delayed the approval for purchase of the property, the M/s Shaw Wallace & Hedges PLC struck a deal with a subsidiary of the Avic International Holding Corporation – the new incarnation of the Chinese defence aviation company, China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corporation or CATIC, which was restructured and renamed in 2008.
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