Committee to investigate irregularities in the Grand Hyatt Project.

According to a statement from the Department of Government Information, the Grand Hyatt Hotel Project was implemented by Sino Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, which is a subsidiary of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, Employees’ Provident Fund, and Litro Gas Lanka Ltd.

The hotel was scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2016 after the completion of construction.

The statement noted most of the agreements signed by the previous government were terminated by the new board of directors of the Sino Lanka (Pvt) Ltd which was appointed following the 2015 presidential election without any justifiable reason and it entered into agreements with new contractors.

Therefore, some companies have initiated legal proceedings and it was decided that the Sino Lanka (Pvt) Ltd shall pay approximately a sum of 1.8 Billion as compensation, it added.

The current cost of the project, which was originally planned to be completed at an estimated cost of 30 Billion Rupees, is re-estimated to be around 60 Billion Rupees.

Approval was granted by the Cabinet of Ministers for a proposal tabled by the Prime Minister as the Minister of Finance to appoint a committee to investigate whether the government has incurred a financial loss as it appears a situation has arisen due to the irregularities committed by the previous management of the Sino Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.