Trace City vested with UDA through lawful means: Champika

Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said yesterday the landmass of the Colombo Trace City project was vested with the Urban Development Authority (UDA) through lawful means, and therefore no another institution could stake a claim for it.

He was responding to Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva who
said the Trace City project initiated by former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa would be taken forward.

Minister Ranawaka told the Daily Mirror nobody wanted to stop it. He said there was a military intelligence base located at this site earlier.

“In 2011, the Army vacated it. After that, the land belonged to the Railway Department. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa vested it with the UDA. The President can vest any state land in that manner. Therefore, railway workers cannot strike demanding the land now,” he said.

He said the area where the Trace City project would be linked by the proposed Colombo multi modal transport hub monorail and light rail lines.

Also, he said there was a proposal to expand the Trace City, but he was opposed to it. He said a new knowledge city would be developed in the Homagama area and therefore expansion was not allowed. (Kelum Bandara)


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